I ran the moth trap again last night. I was in two minds about it because of the iffy weather but it stayed dry and calm. I haven't worked out half of what turned up yet because there was a lot and quite a few were things I'd never seen before. Here are a couple of highlights while I try and work through the rest. I need to find a nice bit of wood or something to pose the moths on in the morning for next time though.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Spotted this charming (?) scene on my lavatera this afternoon. Neither of the antagonists moved at all. Were they both dead? asleep? tired?
I disturbed the scene when I moved my camera (and tripod) for a closer view, which explains that both subjects almost fell off the flower on pics #2 and #3.
Further to yesterday's post, I was informed on a French forum (https://www.insecte.org/) that the spider (Misumena vatia) had definitely won the match. This morning I returned to the crime scene where the bumblebee had disappeared but the spider was still there. He had spent the night on the spot, digesting and savouring its victory.
Here is the photograph I took this morning of the winner.
From that angle you can really see how plant-like those spiders are. If bumblebees run on sugar do you think they taste sweet to the spider?
Mr Wild, for the benefits of citizen science, will you try one and tell us how it tastes? It could be a whole phd project - tasting species of butterflies, hover flies, bees and chart them according to honey tones or wine or coffee. Admittedly there is not much meat on a bee, but enough, I suppose, or the spider wouldn't bother.
I work on the same kind of bee principle. I convert chocolate into flesh. Very clever stuff. I often wonder what percentage of me is converted chocolate. At Easter do I smell sweeter?
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