They're really small Annie, like mice:) Here's a pic of Spottie, Lisa's hamster:)

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

They're really small Annie, like mice:) Here's a pic of Spottie, Lisa's hamster:)

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww - so CUTE!!! :)

Now THIS is what I call a swarm!

http://time.com/3028861/mayfly-invasion-midwest/

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~Sue~

Now THIS is what I call a swarm!

http://time.com/3028861/mayfly-invasion-midwest/

Wow :) I remember being caught in a massive locust swarm as a child - those guys hit you hard :/ and weren't averse to catching a lift either :) I imagine mayflies to be a bit softer on the skin :) but less resilient as a result :(

A cute couple is visiting my backyard today.

Here's the female (wrapping up the leftovers):



And here's her boyfriend:



In case you didn't know, a male argiope spider can often be seen at the edge
of the female's web. (This is the first time I've seen one in spite of checking every
web I have ever seen.) The male is much smaller than the female.

I'd like to think this is one of the offspring of the female that left the big egg sac
on my front porch a few months ago.

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~Sue~

That thing, GAAAACK is right.

The only bugs I worry about are small moths, I setup a text file to see how many moths are coming in and when, I've been doing this since the 18th of this month noting how many got in and that I got rid of, since the 20th I've seen none thankfully. 1 on the 18th and 2 on the 20th and on the 20th they were separated by at least 8 hours from each other.

Vic, got invaded by moths a couple of summers ago.
I hate bugs. :( Took my vacuum cleaner out and killed those Mo*&*^%
F@#$%$#. My cats helped also.

Only had a couple since then.

Serial bug killer,
Lynn

I've had a year long war of annihilation against the moths, recently I've been keeping track of the ones that came in to where I live in a text file, I'd started this on July 18th. I record the date and how many were seen and killed, like so;

Moths.Date
01.08/02/14
01.07/26/14
01.07/25/14
02.07/20/14
01.07/18/14

I think I'm winning, as less and less are showing up, My cat Grace has been a very great help, She spots them near the floor and up to about 3' above the floor, since the carpet is almost the same color as the moths.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Here are a couple of "bugs" I took pictures of in my local park.

I live in a flat/apartment so don't have a garden/yard.

This was last week and is apparently a "Gatekeeper" butterfly, (might be a meadow brown but that doesnt' sound as impressive.)




This one was this morning and is a Jersey Tiger moth, a day flying moth, and not the sort to invade mobile homes :-)

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I only don't like clothes/pantry moths, cause of their young and the threat to which they represent, others as long as they stay out and they do, I have no problem with.

Nice pics Bernie.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Here are a couple of "bugs" I took pictures of in my local park.

Wow!!! Stunning!!! Thank you.

Here are a couple of "bugs" I took pictures of in my local park.

I live in a flat/apartment so don't have a garden/yard.

This was last week and is apparently a "Gatekeeper" butterfly, (might be a meadow brown but that doesnt' sound as impressive.)




This one was this morning and is a Jersey Tiger moth, a day flying moth, and not the sort to invade mobile homes :-)

They're beautiful Bernie! I've encountered some strange bugs too in the South, took a pic of a couple but I'm really not that much of a photographer, and I have a bad camera. Will look for a pic to post later tho:)

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rOZZ
Music
Pictures

I love bugs! :) Beautiful pictures Bernie :) Looking forward to some from you Julie! :)

I remember seeing so many new birds and insects when we were on holiday on the Greek Islands and finding very few people... scratch that... NO people who had any interest in identifying what they were... only the best way of killing them... which was a little off putting. So we decided to take a trip to the mainland to see if we could get a book about the local fauna. We thought we'd got lucky when an assistant proudly led us to the corner of the shop and waved at the shelf we wanted - which was stuffed full of books on how to shoot birds. We gave up at that point...

WE'RE EXPECTING!

This egg sac appeared overnight. (I wish I'd been able to watch its construction.)

Mother is doing fine. Father is still in the same place, off to the side of the mom's area.
Her web isn't there anymore. I don't know if she'll rebuild or move. When the female
on my front porch created her egg sac, she moved off to the other side of the porch
and then disappeared completely.

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~Sue~

WE'RE EXPECTING!

This egg sac appeared overnight. (I wish I'd been able to watch its construction.)

Mother is doing fine. Father is still in the same place, off to the side of the mom's area.
Her web isn't there anymore. I don't know if she'll rebuild or move. When the female
on my front porch created her egg sac, she moved off to the other side of the porch
and then disappeared completely.

Wow!!!!!!!!! That's a beautiful sac... and spider too of course :)

My spider is still in the same place. Her web is right next to a light
that stays on all night and attracts a lot of insects, so she eats
well in that spot. This morning she was feasting on a cicada. (Don't
worry. There are plenty more where that one came from!)

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~Sue~

My spider is still in the same place. Her web is right next to a light
that stays on all night and attracts a lot of insects, so she eats
well in that spot. This morning she was feasting on a cicada. (Don't
worry. There are plenty more where that one came from!)

Maybe that's why there are a lot of bugs coming in to My place, no spiders nearby.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

City spiders are getting bigger - but that's a good thing

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/city-spiders-are-getting-bigger--but-thats-a-good-thing-20140821-106las.html

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~Sue~

City spiders are getting bigger - but that's a good thing

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/city-spiders-are-getting-bigger--but-thats-a-good-thing-20140821-106las.html

Thanks Suzie!! Nice link :)

I found an enormous tegeneria gigantica (spelling might be wrong) last night :) I had to move him to one of my cat-free zones indoors so that he stayed gorgeous...

of course, I know some people aren't keen on spiders...



... but I'm very fond of them :)

Thanks Suzie!! Nice link :)

I found an enormous tegeneria gigantica (spelling might be wrong) last night :) I had to move him to one of my cat-free zones indoors so that he stayed gorgeous...

of course, I know some people aren't keen on spiders...



... but I'm very fond of them :)

The spelling was close enough for me to look it up on Google.

There was a spider that looked a bit like that one in my house a
couple of days ago, but it was in a place where I couldn't access
it. God only knows where it is now.


I've actually seen two separate news items in recent days where some
Darwin Award candidate burned a house down trying to kill a spider.

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~Sue~

Same spider, different egg sac. She's been busy. She's got
two egg sacs about two feet apart. I haven't seen the male
for a while. Maybe he was lunch. (Do argiopes eat their mates?)

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~Sue~

A quick scoot round the internet suggests no, although if kept in captivity any male spider might turn into lunch if the female gets hungry. What can I say... Girlies... we need our protein :)

It did say the argiopes (or writing spider) is at risk of other insects parasitising the egg sac so she's clearly protecting her babies well by still being around. Hopefully the male has gone to pick her up some lunch given her nursery duties. If he hasn't - MAYBE he was lunch... but then his withered husk should be around... does that help? :)