Monday 30 March 2009

More wildlife in my garden

As the long dry continues more and more plants in my garden curl up their toes (leaves) and die. At the moment there are probably six that need to be removed. It's quite depressing to walk around the garden - not really a joy at all.

But there are a few highlights and finding the occasional insect is one of them. Yesterday I found these little eggs on long delicate stalks attached to a Hardenbergia leaf. I think they're lacewing eggs.

And this little spider was hiding under a leaf near its web on a Darwinia shrub. It's a crab spider from the Thomisidae family, Sidymella species. You can see why they're called crab spiders.

I went out with the torch last night and found several more little spiders running up their webs or sitting on bark waiting but didn't photograph them - I'm very bad at using a flash, everything always ends up washed out, so knew I'd be wasting my time. It's a skill I must try to develop and maybe I need to add to my camera equipment.

1 comment:

Duncan said...

Boobook, if you can't adjust your flash exposure in camera, try putting several thicknesses of white tissue over the flash. Trial and error, secure it with a rubber band.