Another lovely day in the Forest with my family! Sorry about the strange pose, but I only had 10 seconds on the timer to cross a small stream, several logs and to take my place and look 'Cool'! Hence all the laughter from the others! (Oh well, I did try!).
This is a fantastic spot in the forest, very few people find it and it is teeming with wildlife! Little Ewan was in his element, turning over logs and stones and calling us when he found anything! One day he will learn about the weight different between a log and a fallen tree, but his obsession with wildlife is catching up with my own! So proud of him!
It was a good day for seeing the diverse range of spiders we get in this country and I guess you will all be glad to have a change from seeing the monster that lives in our garden! We first picked up the oddity above on a stick (to get a more natural picture), but most unusually, she stretched 4 legs out in front and 4 behind until her body blended in with the stick. Fantastic camouflage!
This bright green baby really stood out! Not so well camouflaged until it got into the grass.
You may be able to see that she has 8 tiny eyes and 8 legs! Amazing detail for such a tiny creature! Seems such a long time ago that I was terrified of spiders and would have died before picking one up!
This shows quite nicely how the whole family joins in the fun! It all makes a walk so much fun, and as I always say in my wildlife talks, there is MUCH more to see than most people notice. This is Ewan 'pointing' out another creepy crawlie to his Uncle Neil.
I found this wood ant on my leg after laying on the ground trying to photograph a grasshopper! They do 'nip' a little but it really isn't too unpleasant and is easy to ignore. I had quite a job getting this one off after taking the photograph as he decided to grab onto a leg hair and refused to let go!
Yet another spider, found by Neil. This is a young Raft Spider. These grow into the UKs largest spider. When adult, they can even catch tiny fish in the streams, using those powerful legs to haul their prey out of the water.
Here is the grasshopper that was the cause of me getting a little Ant infested. You can even see an ant near the bottom right corner. There were thousands of grasshoppers around today, but so active it was not east to photograph them, especially with little ewan leaping in to see what we had found all the time. Worth it though, to see his interest in the natural world grow!
...and a larger cousin! I wasn't able to get a really crisp close up, so these will have to do!
The closest I got!
Even I wouldn't claim this grub was beautiful! But it was impressive. Inside a rotten log and about an inch long! But, beautiful or not, just another demonstration of the diversity in the forest.
Here is Neil 'helping' Ewan across a ditch! Ewan was laughing his head off as you may be able to see!!! We all took turns to give him a piggy back, which he loves because he can see so much more!
Another bug I am unfamiliar with. I knew I was in for a new subject when I heard Gerry say 'Got your camera handy?'. On the back of Gerrys hand, we think it was a kind of moth, but just look at the wierd 'shaving brush' projection at its mouth end!
Another resident of a rotten log! We found quite a few today, but this was the most impressive.
There were thousands of butterflies about today as well! Nothing unusual, but beautiful nonetheless. This one was in a group of about half a dozen sunning themselves on these white flowers.
I had really hoped to include lizards, and maybe a snake or two today, but no such luck' This is definately a hopeful area though, so I am sure we will return soon and get a chance to show Ewan his first wild snake! So watch this space!
A Little addition later in the day!
As always, I would love to see your comments! Hopefully, I will also get around to starting my new website, so I repeat, watch this space! Or keep a watch on the Happy lappy Website!
That is it for now! Keep watching the ground-you might miss something stunning!
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