It's Mantis season, and they are everywhere.
I suppose they must be my favourite insect; they're very friendly and very spectacular looking. They also look as if they were designed by Mr Disney.
Years ago the Mantis season and Stick Insect season coincided, but I haven't seen any of the latter for quite some while. I'm sure they're still out there, they've probably just perfected their camouflage.
Cool I do love wiggies. I also like the abundance of lizards on mainland Europe.
ReplyDeleteWe have plenty of lizards living in the walls of the house; as soon as the sun shines they come out.
DeleteI love praying mantises and stick insects and frogs and butterflies and dragonflies. They take me back to my childhood when I roamed the garden and the local bush watching them for hours. I still do, but don't roam so far, these days. They are all fascinating.
ReplyDeleteNot too many dragonflies this year, normally they fly around over the pool. I think we've only had one this summer.
DeleteWe call it here "Solomon camel". i don't know why.
ReplyDeleteI believe that King Soloman was so annoyed with his camel, that he turned it into an insect.
DeleteI saw my first stick insect out in our far field a few weeks ago and didn't have a clue what it was until Lester told me. I was fascinated! I shall now look out for praying mantises......
ReplyDeleteIf you have one, you're bound to have the other. You'll probably see the Mantis flying; they look like fairies.
DeleteA mantis, the perfect insect for a Sunday morning, on its knees saying its prayers.
ReplyDeleteNothing is by chance.
DeleteWe have had an abundance of these creatures this year. They are always fun to watch and enjoy. The outside cats are fascinated by them and, thankfully, they are not as smart as the mantis.
ReplyDeleteIt must be a good year for them.
DeleteWow! How fun to see them naturally. I've only ever seen them in the insect houses of zoos!
ReplyDeletePlenty here; I've seen more today.
DeleteI love that bright green color!
ReplyDeleteIt's a beauty. They also come in brown, but I prefer green.
DeleteThe first year we lived in the house there must have been some kind of mass migration of the beasts...the roadway was covered with them.
ReplyDeleteGoodness; worse than here!
DeleteMade an 'orrible sound when the cars drove through lol.
DeleteI'm just a tad envious. All we seem to get are ants, wasps, and those irritating little flies that never get bored of doing laps around the light fittings.
ReplyDeleteMind you I did see a big dragonfly the other day...
Ants and Wasps don't make very good pets, do they?
DeleteThis summer the kids and I found a praying mantis that had drowned in standing water. We scooped it out, placed it in on a chair and left it alone. An hour later I saw that it had gone from lifeless to alert and was now moving around. Very strange and yet slightly creepy. Aliens?
ReplyDeleteI've found several large spiders at the bottom of the pool. When I fished them out, they came to life and scuttled away. They must be champions at holding their breath.
DeleteI did blog about one my daughter found this summer - he had already lost a leg - but yours are SO much more colourful than ours, which are a muddy straw coloured shade of nothing! Probably for camouflage when I think about it...
ReplyDeleteI've found dark brown ones before; I have no idea what the difference is.
DeleteI have only once seen a mantis 'in the wild' so to speak and that was in Spain once on some iron railings round someone's garden. I was absolutely fascinated by it. It is such a strange shape - looks as though it was designed by Heath Robinson.
ReplyDeleteThey are certainly odd looking; but very friendly.
DeleteI did blog about one my daughter found this summer - he had already lost a leg - but yours are SO much more colourful than ours, which are a muddy straw coloured shade of nothing! Probably for camouflage when I think about it...
ReplyDeleteAs I said above, we do have brown ones too.
DeleteIt is too late in the season here for them, but I did see teeny baby ones this spring. We didn't have many dragonflies this year either. Hmmm. Must be Monsanto.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me started!!!!
DeleteI've never seen one in the Uk but we have huge numbers in New Zealand. I agree, they are a beautiful and friendly creature (provided you are not their prey!).
ReplyDelete