Our new home is pleasantly shielded from the outside world, such that I could prance around wearing nothing much at all if it were not for the fact it would put my wife off her breakfast; and it is not really acceptable behaviour for an English gentleman of advancing years.
But our seclusion was disturbed the other evening when I found a little face staring through the window at my luckily fully attired physique.
A praying mantis, one of the cutest insects you could hope to meet; unless you happen to be potential prey, or are a male mantis planning seduction with a good bottle of wine and some sexy tunes; because you have a fair chance of having your head bitten off mid-shag.
I was unable to ascertain the sex of our visitor, but it was there with its head still attached the following morning, which allowed me to take some more shots:
It was still there in the afternoon and would probably be there now if another visitor (cough* Kevin *cough) had not tried to assault it with a tripod.
Very cute, please come back soon (the mantis, not Kevin).
Comments 🔗
2014-10-26| Always at fault Kevin saysIt was your tripod, Brian from 3 legged thing or as you refer to it “3 legged twat”. With it’s loose legs and floppy head I really think it wasn’t my fault and once again I was setup by your good self.
2014-10-27| Grant saysDoes he really have a tripod named Brian? Get a grip Kevin, oh, sorry, yes you did, we’ve seen the photos. No floppy head there… Got to admit it Kevin, he’s a crafty old rascal for an ex accountant…
2014-10-27| Spike saysYes, the tripod is named Brian. The company that produces them thought it would give them a cool edgy image to name their tripods after rock guitarists, thus helping to disguise that their products are essentially crap. Brian, they suggest, is named in homage to Brian May of Queen; but in fact the tripod is named after Brian Botswana, the lead guitarist, notorious for his limited talent and questionable personal hygiene, of the thrash punk jazz funk ensemble, The Tragic Condoms. They are crap too.
2014-10-27| ChristianPFC saysThe praying mantis (often misspelled: it looks like it is praying, but in fact it is preying) looked at you in each of the photos you took. The dark spot on the eyes show which direction it is looking, applies to all insects, I once read.
I saw one in the wild in Thailand and one in a zoo in Germany, fascinating creatures!
2014-10-28| Grant saysPity. Sounds like you may have been much better off with a really superior gentleman’s tripod named Jeeves…
2014-10-29| Andrew says" The company that produces them thought it would give them a cool edgy image to name their ( insert new great thing which is old thing with glitter here ) after ( insert edgy idea here ) , thus helping to disguise that their products are essentially crap"…this basically sums up modern manufacturing today…