A Good Year For Bugs
A good year for the insects is also a good year for things that eat them, so be warned - there are close-up photos of spiders in here, along with other things.
I gave up on the idea of growing fruit and veg a while back. The beans and capsicums are doing surprising well in pots, the rest of the garden is now dedicated to insects.
It can be hard to tell if you have more insects or not. I am assuming that the greater number of insect-eating creatures means things are going well.
Our usual bird life has been joined by a pair of Dusky Woodswallows (insectivores). It took me a long time to identify them, they keep their distance, and it didn't help that for a while I didn't realise I was seeing two different birds, one male and one female.
We have also had a Grey Currawong in addition to the usual Pied Currawongs.
This is your basic black house spider. We have a lot of them on our windows. This particular one has been living on the kitchen roller-shutter for quite a long time and has reached a substantial size for its species.
A grasshopper, which would be camouflaged better if it were almost anywhere else than on this green leaf.
A bee! I'm still not seeing as many of them as I feel I should be. None of the little native bees recently. At some point I may get a hive, but that doesn't help with the little stingless ones who don't do hives.
An Orb Spider, there are quite a few of these living in and around the lemon tree. The guides all say the legs are supposed to be red near the body, maybe I need better lighting.
A Praying Mantis. Have seen a few of these in various sizes. This one was hanging upside down on the balustrade, another camouflage fail.
Some sort of dragon fly? The body is much shorter than our usual ones, but it looked very dragonfly-like when it flew off.
A moth, doing a good impression of being a dry leaf, but sitting fairly conspicuously on the screen of the back door.
A different grasshopper, even worse at hiding than the last one.
One of our more usual dragonflies. Despite appearances, it was alive and flew off happily later.
A bee, on the spiky plant that may or may not be a rose of some sort.
If this was a cat, everyone would think it was very cute, all curled up with its little arms over its head. But it is another Orb Spider, doing a good impression in the front yard of being a dead bud on the Camelia.
Meanwhile, the Daddy-Long-Legs spiders have vanished again after inhabiting the house for some months. Sometimes I wonder how they have ever survived, given their suicidal behaviour around showers. I got so sick of seeing them washed down the drain I now feel compelled to carefully evict them in the morning.
Their absence has been followed by the first indoor Hunstman I've seen in a long time. I did not attempt to photograph that one, but I am proud of myself for calmly walking past it to request David evict it. I've learned to appreciate the small spiders, but I still don't like the big ones.
I gave up on the idea of growing fruit and veg a while back. The beans and capsicums are doing surprising well in pots, the rest of the garden is now dedicated to insects.
It can be hard to tell if you have more insects or not. I am assuming that the greater number of insect-eating creatures means things are going well.
Our usual bird life has been joined by a pair of Dusky Woodswallows (insectivores). It took me a long time to identify them, they keep their distance, and it didn't help that for a while I didn't realise I was seeing two different birds, one male and one female.
We have also had a Grey Currawong in addition to the usual Pied Currawongs.
This is your basic black house spider. We have a lot of them on our windows. This particular one has been living on the kitchen roller-shutter for quite a long time and has reached a substantial size for its species.
A grasshopper, which would be camouflaged better if it were almost anywhere else than on this green leaf.
A bee! I'm still not seeing as many of them as I feel I should be. None of the little native bees recently. At some point I may get a hive, but that doesn't help with the little stingless ones who don't do hives.
An Orb Spider, there are quite a few of these living in and around the lemon tree. The guides all say the legs are supposed to be red near the body, maybe I need better lighting.
A Praying Mantis. Have seen a few of these in various sizes. This one was hanging upside down on the balustrade, another camouflage fail.
Some sort of dragon fly? The body is much shorter than our usual ones, but it looked very dragonfly-like when it flew off.
A moth, doing a good impression of being a dry leaf, but sitting fairly conspicuously on the screen of the back door.
A different grasshopper, even worse at hiding than the last one.
One of our more usual dragonflies. Despite appearances, it was alive and flew off happily later.
A bee, on the spiky plant that may or may not be a rose of some sort.
If this was a cat, everyone would think it was very cute, all curled up with its little arms over its head. But it is another Orb Spider, doing a good impression in the front yard of being a dead bud on the Camelia.
Meanwhile, the Daddy-Long-Legs spiders have vanished again after inhabiting the house for some months. Sometimes I wonder how they have ever survived, given their suicidal behaviour around showers. I got so sick of seeing them washed down the drain I now feel compelled to carefully evict them in the morning.
Their absence has been followed by the first indoor Hunstman I've seen in a long time. I did not attempt to photograph that one, but I am proud of myself for calmly walking past it to request David evict it. I've learned to appreciate the small spiders, but I still don't like the big ones.