Spring in My Step © Jane Davenport - to purchase, click on image

How I wish this were the case. It feels as if spring had arrived! So i can make myself feel warm by looking at sunny summer memories….the ladybirds will be here soon….

Blue Suede Mantis © Jane Davenport

I was wandering aimlessly through my photo library as I searched for images, ideas and inspiration, and meandered into my praying mantis file. I have quite a collection! Looking at the images, I had the stories and location associated with each one jump into my mind.

This may be because they are so tricky to find with their perfect camouflage. Also, as the top invertebrate predator in the garden, they are relatively scarce in number and probably quite territorial. But I think the majority of the truth lies in the fact that I just like them. I admire them.  I can relate to a mantid (yes, you heard it here first). I would be hard pressed to bring back such clear recall for every bee I have seen for example, even though I am very fond of them also!

The most recent mantis I worked with was the Jade eyed gargantuan a few months ago (here).  The first mantids I worked with are featured in the featured image . In between are dozens of other individuals. I  just really love photographing them and I think it shows!  I have been asked to put a proposal together for an exhibition, and well, the answer has just presented itself – well, to me anyway!

I would love to see these charasmatic creatures staring from gallery walls en masse. I have had mantids feature in a few of my exhibitions…but I think they deserve more than that! I did have one of my mantis images towering over the entrance to  “What’s the Buzz?” exhibition at the Perth Zoo. The magnificent 2m mantis was a favourite with boys!

Anyway, I will send of my proposal and let you know what happens…

Jane

The drive home from Sydney to Byron Bay can be a real drag…time is measured out in coffee stops and toilet breaks. So any excitement along the way is always welcome, especially if it is of a close encounter with a giant bug!

As we passed a new sushi roadside diner at Coffs Harbour, my eyes clamped on a HUGE insect sitting on the lime green wall. Can you imagine how BIG it was to see it from the road? So I commando rolled out of the moving vehicle to dash over and have a close-up look…I split with excitement when I saw her huge pregnant belly, flourescent green eyes, and splashes of emerald down her wings. A magnificent site. And my mind started racing over the photo opps as I darted back to the now safely stationary car to grab my camera. And then I remembered…my camera was in Canon hospital getting repaired (the lens had locked with the camera body!). OK, not to worry, I will take her home. A quick google check (love my iphone!) revealed she was a species that lives in my area as well, so I could relocate her without guilt.

Now what to put her in? Well it just so happens that I never travel without a bug house in the car. Oh, right, it’s full of baby  stick insects ( a gift from one of my art collectors in Sydney – really!) and the mantis will definitely polish them off. So into a rinsed-out drink container she goes. I could hear her scrachety-scratching for the rest of the journey.

The next day, safe and sound in her own bug house, the mantis layed her eggs (told you she was preggers) and looked at me hungrily. I have been hunting grasshoppers for her ever since. And managed  to find a rocket frog, damselflies and a plethora of other little critters for lots of photographic fun over the long weekend!

Tenodera australasiae – aka: The Australian Mantid or Purple Winged mantid

As you can imagine, I have been very careful with my large guest and I prepared the studio carefully for her photo-session. I planned the images I wanted before picking up the camera (which arrived back safely – thanks Canon!).

Paper Kite Butterfly

the beautiful Paper Kite butterfly

Scientific name: Idea leuconoe

This large, striking, black-and-white butterfly flits and floats in the air, like a piece of paper drifting in the wind. Its huge 9 to 10cm wingspan is accentuated by spectacular pattern. It is also known as the Rice Paper butterfly and Large Tree Nymph.

This GORGEOUS tropical butterfly has managed to spread its wings all over the world, simply by being beautiful. You may not have seen it in the wild (I haven’t yet!), but chances are if you have been to a butterfly house, then you have witnessed its loveliness. As you can see, it is attracted to red flowers, so wear a red top or hat if you want one to land on you!

It is a popular butterfly to have in captivity at Butterfly houses because of its size and slower flying pattern. I have photographed them in butterfly houses in Germany, all across the USA, in Australia, Thailand and South Africa. I created these images at ‘That Butterfly Place’ in Branson, Missouri.

In the wild it is found from India through Malaysia and SE Asia.  It is bred commercially in the Phillipines and Malaysia and each chrysalis carefully packed and sent to new butterfly houses around the world.

The chrysalis and newly emerged Paper kite butterflies

The chrysalis is just as beautiful as the butterfly in my opinion. They are yellow with metallic gold and black markings as in the above images. You can see the empty chrysalis with the emerged adult butterflies stretching their newly freed wings.

As caterpillars they eat plants with bitter-tasting alkaloids, which in turn give them a bitter taste and protect them from predation even as butterflies. I look forward to photographing the caterpillars one day…

Welcome to the first post of my new Column ‘Sects in the City. Where I divulge the details of a delightful little creature I have photographed.

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Some would say Australians have big heads (anyone who watched Flight of the Conchords has been taught this ‘ fact’). And some Australians have big everything else to match – I am referring of course to our insect’s tendency  towards gigantism. The world’s heaviest moth and cockroach reside here (yay?).  We have the Titan stick insects, Golith stick insect,  King cricket, Colossus earwig and,  drum roll please, the Giant water bug!

In 2006 I picked up an issue of Australian Geographic in the Sydney airport that featured and fantastic article on GIANT Insects. I was glued to the article during my flight. Most insects I was familiar with, or had least heard of, but one stood out…the Giant water bug. But as it is a mud-dweller and I am not, I thought it was unlikely we would meet each other in this lifetime. But I was very wrong…

As I dragged by suitcase up the drive way from the taxi, I noticed a big ‘thing’ just lying there. Yes, it was a Giant water bug – weird huh? It wasn’t alive, but it was giant. Not as big as the 7cm quoted in the magazine, but plenty big enough. I guessed  that a bird must have caught it, the bug put up a heck of a fight, and was dropped. Although its wings are clearly visible, I just could not believe that it could fly, but fly they can… anyway the word must be out for my bug portraits, because I found another one on my driveway today!

I found this fellow (or fellow-ette? I can’t tell…) on its back, waving its legs in the air and from a distance, I though it was an emaciated mouse. So I went over to rescue the poor thing and -woah!- that ‘aint no mouse – HUGE bug-beast! I should have recognised the creature much sooner, but really it is just so unusual looking. So  I relished my chance to at last  photograph one of these relatively unknown critters.

It is a fearsome predator when it is lurking at home in the water or rivers, pools and lagoons. It likes a bit of mud and debris to hide amongst as it stalks tadpoles, small fish, crustaceans and other aquatic insects. A similar creature in the USA is called a ‘toe biter’ because of the painful but non-poisonous bite they can give. So you can imagine, I was very careful when handling it!

As far as making it look beautiful…well let’s be realistic… there just isn’t a chance of that happening! But to get the amazing details, I decided to photograph the Giant water bug in its element and to make it really stand out, I placed it in a white bowl with spring water. It happily swum around, but watching it throw its beefy arms over the side and hoist itself up and out when it had enough of a paddle, was a little alarming.

I also took the bug’s photo with a pen, so you could see just how big it was. My grandfather was a keen nature photographer and I have 1000′s of Kodachrome slides with tiny rare wildflowers and a coin or matchstick placed carefully alongside for scale. It is not aesthetically pleasing, but as a reference shot amongst your images, is a wonderful habit to acquire. (Update: I expanded on this handy tip here)

I wanted to get a shot of it in its natural habitat, but it virtually disappeared into the creek bank as soon as I let it go, and as I find my fingers quite handy, I decided not to poke around in the mud for it.

Next week I will choose a creature to feature that is just as fascinating, but a little better looking!

Well I have had some superduper-garycooper feedback from some inspiration fairies and I am now organising two regular features for this blog…

1. ‘Sects in the City!

It gives me great pleasure to start writing about bugs in a regular way again! I started ‘Sects in the City as a column published in Burke’s Backyard Magazine and had a lovely page there in every issue for 5 years.  It was a very popular regular feature. Look out for it on Mondays! I am writing about an exciting creature I found and photographed yesterday for the first column!

2. ArtoMology : Shutterbug tips with Jane Davenport

Just in time for the weekend, I will share a few of my photography tricks with you!

And! I just sorted Feedburner out – so if you would like these posts delivered straight in to your email box, why not subscribe to the blog (go on…you know you want to…!).

Leave a few comments on what kind of things you would like to learn…