When I wander about with my camera looking for bugs I generally look down towards the path-side shrubs or I look at the tree trunks for camouflaged moths / spiders. Yesterday I realised that I rarely looked at anything above eye-level. On my way back down the hill I changed approach and looked at eye-level and above. I was rewarded with a few finds that I would otherwise have missed.
First up is this very attractive little grasshopper nymph. You know its a nymph because it is still wingless. It was all on its own. I searched high and low but failed to find any kith or kin.
The trouble with nymphs is that they can bare startlingly little resemblance to the imago (adult) gropper. Who remembers this from way back when? Who would have thought that the top one was once just like its pooping younger version. This ID mystery took some solving. I spent several hours trying to identify the pooper. Grasshopper poop is called frass, I believe, if you are of a technical bent. Oh and it is Oxya chinensis in case you wondered.
Here’s another one. Or two to be precise. Making more gropper nymphs.
Oxya chinensis – Rice grasshopper
And my other look-up bonus was this larva or caterpillar:
This is probably a 3rd or 4th instar Papilio helenus helenus. Its very similar to another species so I am not 100% sure. Do you see the cat face?
Of course if you only look up then you miss things as well. I found this on the way up. It did not want to hang around so I only had half a dozen handheld shots before it scuttled off. It is a weevil. The power of Facebook tells me it is Baryrhynchus poweri. There are some very knowledgeable people on FB if you know where to find them (clue: check the entomology page).
And that is it for today. Work tomorrow – another unwelcome interruption to my attempt at retirement. But if you have a photography habit you have to fund it. And Mrs. Ha desperately needs (not) another pair of shoes. I assuage my lens-complex guilt by signing off a chitty for another trip to the shoe emporium. Such are the compromises of a happy marriage. So I am told.
All downhill from here 
Great series Andrew!! Well done – the red guy of the last pic is my favourite, cool looking chap 🙂
Love the bugs. In the garden I tend to make quick ‘friend to foe’ identifications and fail to pause and appreciate their beauty and complexity. Thanks.
If you watch them go through the different phases they are quite fascinating but I do agree they can be a pest in the garden. I just regard them as bird food.
Only you could capture such clear reproductive and birthing details, Andrew. Really. You should be contacting NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC or some nature publication with your portfolio.
The weevil is stunning!
Thank you so much, Marylin. There are some truly remarkable photographers around, far more serious and accomplished than I am. I am simply fascinated by what there is to find out there. So many people walk past and wonder what I am looking at!
That is one sweet nymph, Andrew. Of course, I mean the little hopper. So colorful.
Yes, looking up, looking behind us…so many other directions for our attention…so much to see. And I do see the cat face. 🙂
Insects, like birds, live in various strata. So we need to expand our explorations a bit to their haunts for new critters.
The Baryrhynchus poweri is quite the handsome or lovely weevil.
Wow! That is a wild and colorful assortment you have there! Excellent!
Lovely series. Excellent macro work amd I particularly like the weevil!
the beauty is all in the detail. great work
“Compromise” ?…bwahaha…
Fine mixed bunch of insects !
Enjoyed all the shots Andrew, be it looking up or down,,., the colourful insects are amazing.. . and hi ho hi ho off to work ….for shoes? I hate buying shoes… IN that I suppose I’m strange, only have three pairs at the mo… 😀 xPenx
Dinner for the scissor-tailed flycatcher and the nighthawk…. a snack for the quail…. eye-candy on the hoof for the late spring lepidopterist…. nice!
I think that it is an automatcic reaction to look down when looking for macro subjects as they are smaller than us. Nice shots.
Is that man creeping about in the bushes alright, Mummy?
Don’t worry about him, he has his Macro lens with him!
To date I’ve resisted the temptation to buy a macro lens because I know it will skew my photography considerably – but when I see pictures like this……
Good joke, I was actaully in my schools garden with my camera and macro lens lying on the floor. A fellow teacher came running out calling my name asking if I was ok. She had thought I had fallen down and was hurt. As photographers we must look strange sometimes.
🙂 🙂
Only a couple of minutes ago I was bemoaning the fact that our yard is over-run with caterpillars – 100’s and thousands of them. At first I thought the ‘bunches’ of them hanging off the yellow weeds was fun but now that they’ve stripped every wild plant in the garden bare, and my precious stocks and plants are under attack, It is no longer a joke.
Bugs are great but much nicer when viewed on a laptop screen, especially when they are the work of A.H. Thrilled that you got some poop in to the post. The cat face is extraordinary and some wonderful markings too. I might have to post my caterpillar photos on facebook and see if any one knows what they are – if they are going to be butterflies then I’ll forgive them eating my stocks.
Do post your cat pics Lottie so we can have a go. There is always a struggle between letting them live and protecting the plants. Some of our greenery just disappeared because of the little blighters. I tend to let them be so the birds get some extra protein 😁
Ok, I’ll post them – the cats are beginning to drive me mad. They are now in the house, even upstairs. The yard is crawling with them…..HELP!
Great captures!
Andrew – a girl can never have enough shoes …
“There are a whole lot of things in this world of ours you haven’t started wondering about yet.” – that’s a quote by the Old Green Grasshopper from James and the Giant peach by Roald Dahl – a favourite if rather weird children’s book. Your pictures this morning reminded me of many a happy read.
Jenny, one of our ex-neighbours had a room devoted solely to shoes. Wall to wall, ceiling to ceiling. I just don’t understand why!
Oh, I can 🙂
A WEEVIL ??? http://wp.me/p3ZISx-NS
What SIZE can it be ??? It appears to be the same size as an Alexander beetle, but sumpn tells me it’s just your wonderful photography, Mr Hardacre … [grin]
M.R., he’s about 1.5cm long and proud of it.