1a) I was just having a little trip down memory lane looking through my photographs and decided to gather a few bugs, insects and creepy things together to put into a little photoblog to remind me of the times I got close up and very personal to some very tiny creatures. Not sure what this little bug is, as I have tried researching it. I took this shot locally last Spring on a warm sunny day as it was resting on a flower bursting into life.

3b) Ten minutes later after releasing the spider into the wilderness, I was playing with worms. Ha ha.... Hubby by now, is a little worried about me. (A wife who loves spiders and insects. "Whatever have I married!!” He exclaimed. ) This one was wriggling all over the place. I had placed it in a little pot to contain its position with a bit of garden wood bark for background interest. Okay, so I manoeuvred the slimy thing into a curling position for an action shot before releasing it to the earth again.

5c) Having left a rotting mashed banana outside in a pot for a few days to attract the insects, I spied my chance to sit amongst the flies as they flew in their plenty around me. I got up close to the pot and captured these two in a head to head scrap for the pulped meal. I must admit I didn’t eat bananas for a few days after this dinnertime photo shoot.

7d) During the same month in August 2010 I captured this spider locally. I believe it is the Orb Web Spider. (Araneus Diadematus) Many Orb Weavers build a new web daily and generally towards evening the spider will consume the old web, rest for an hour then spin a new web. The building of a web is an engineering feat begun when the spider floats a line on the wind to another surface. The spider secures the line and then drops another line from the centre, making a "Y". The rest of the scaffolding follows with many radii of non-sticky silk being constructed before a final spiral of sticky capture silk.

9e) Santorini in September 2010 saw me getting very close to some seriously odd looking creatures although this one is kind of cute really. This monster was flying frantically around our hotel room in Greece. Getting to grips with this one had my stomach in butterflies. I was determined to capture it as it zoomed past my head. Picture the scene ~ the husband screaming to get it outside but I had shut the patio doors so neither Hubby or the moth could escape until I had achieved the determined desired shot. Then the creature landed on a sheet of kitchen paper I had quickly placed by the lit table lamp to attract it. Gotcha !! Got my photo and much to the relief of Hubby as the obliging moth flew outside into the early evening sunset.

11f) A few minutes later as it was drawing breath and drying out in the morning sunshine it rewarded me with some poses. This was one of the first times I had got so close to the beautiful green Praying Mantis and so aptly named due to the ‘prayer like’ stance and are often confused with the grasshopper and crickets.( also stick/leaf insects)

13f) Seven minutes later (after that last shot of the Praying Mantis) it was to be my lucky day. I spotted this Dragonfly in the hotel gardens as I was walking back to join Hubby at the pool area. I still had my Raynox 250 lens attached to the Fuji HS10 camera and just kept clicking capturing this wonderful little creature. (It is my favourite and I have submitted this image in a large frame with two other photos of mine into a local photography competition, where if it is selected, will hang on an exhibition gallery wall for my first time.)

15g) Two hours later, hubby Geoff and myself were walking high on the Lycian walking trail in Turkey where it was a haven for plant and insect life. Geoff heard this little fella making a racket in the undergrowth and it scarpered to a little rock. He was a bit camera shy and normally I have the creatures attracted to me but even my charm kept this Cricket at bay.

17g) I titled this one 'Beauty & the Beast.' Ten minutes later after the last shot, the area we were walking was filled with a wonderful flower fragrance and the little creepy crawlies were battling for the pollen. This unidentified insect landed on the flower beside me as we walked that wonderful path in Turkey.

19i) September 2011 was another month spent in macro mode making out with little things to amuse my mind. I seemed to be fascinated with flies and bugs that I was becoming a real bug hunter. I lay down on a plastic tarpaulin sheet in our local park gardens to get up close to this insect and capture this angle as it hovered and grovelled in the yellow pollen in the sun. I think this is a Hoverfly but I’m no expert on identification.

21k) Finally,I will end this bug watch with my image in the X themed competition of a spider captured in the Canary Islands taken last September 2011. I took it in the almost mid-day sun where the web was blowing gently in the breeze and the spider was bouncing on the web like a trampoline. It was located in the gardens on top of a gigantic cacti plant so I kept getting spiked the closer I got with the Fuji HS10 camera and the Raynox 250 lens. I had to be careful not to break the delicate laced web as I was only inches away from it with the camera. It took a few days of trying in the breeze to finally focus after loads of attempts, to finally get this shot.
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This is a just a selective compilation collection containing my creepy crawlies I’ve taken these past two years and I look forward to the challenge of getting acquainted with a few more creepy crawlies this year.
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Thanks for viewing.
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Best Wishes. Alison