So you want some more frightening insects . . .

[Geoff F]

Difficult to just select a couple of images from the 8 CD's full that I took last year but here is a sample. Lots more available.

Nice gory spider eating a bumble bee bigger than itself. Yellow form of Crab Spider (Misumena vatia and the bee is Bombus Pratorum).

How about a Horse Fly with psychedelic eyes? (Chrysops relictus) a real nasty with a vicious bite that often gets infected. This one was difficult to photograph as the flower on which it was sitting was moving about in a strong wind.

Both photos taken in my S. Devon garden.

[The Blue Boy]

Great stuff, Geoff!

I love spiders and insects fascinate me. I'm looking at macro lenses at the moment but it won't be untill the summer!

Keep 'em coming!

[crisscross]

Nice spider and quite an achievement making a horsefly look so poetic

[shreds]

My wife was not impressed...

Unfortunately she doesn't see it from a photographers point.

[The Blue Boy]

@shreds,

She shouldn't be looking over your shoulder mate!

[Geoff F]

These photos definitely won't be suitable for Shreds' wife, or anybody else who is easily scared.

Jumping spiders are something that you either love or get nightmares about. Tiny (about 5mm head to tail) but fierce. They creep up on their prey and then jump on top of it; faster than the eye can see.

As such they are difficult to photograph except when they are hunting or eating. These images show one feeding on a young Speckled Bush Cricket and sneaking up on an aphid. To give an idea of scale, the plant stem is a broad bean plant. Personally, I'm keen for them to eat all the greenfly can can.

I think this one is Heliophanus flavipes. This was photographed with a Canon 70-300 lens plus a 25mm extension tube; and it is pushing that set up a bit too far really.

[The Blue Boy]

This is great stuff, Geoff, keep 'em coming. I like them even if everybody else is behind a sofa with a rolled up newspaper!

[Jim B.]

Geoff,

Some great shots there.I especially like the horse fly.I have had intimate contact with a few of them in my life

Jim

[Geoff F]

And for a change - sometimes spiders come off second best:-

Spider Hunting Wasps (Pompilidae family) attack and paralyse spiders which they drag into burrows then lay their eggs on the spider so that the wasp larvae have fresh meat to eat when they hatch. I think this wasp is Priocnemis exaltata. Difficult to focus clearly as the wasp drags it's catch over the ground with remarkable speed.

The other image shows a Common Wasp stealing a spiders 'dinner'. It flew straight into the web, frightening off the spider, then cut the web around the spider's prey and flew off with it, holding it in it's legs. This again, was difficult to focus as it all happened in a few seconds and the wasp never kept still.

A lot more of my wildlife photos are on this link (if it works, I'm not very good at this sort of thing). http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/pi...0/ppuser/16584

It isn't just scary things. There are 'cuddly' creatures like hoverflies, birds and a few landscapes etc there as well.