Wintering Over

New Zealand praying mantis, Orthodera novaezealandiae Large

This is the first year that I have seen a praying mantis in my garden in July. There are at least two females living in one of the big Viburnum tinus bushes. I can easily recognise them from the pattern of damage on their wing cases.

The viburnum has masses of small flowers filled with nectar. Whenever the sun has been shining for an hour or two the bushes are humming with insects. There is a wide variety of flies, from the barely visible to the big drones. Sometimes honeybees are working there, and the odd bumblebee drops in. The other day I saw a yellow admiral butterfly with shredded wings, but still able to fly.

I like to search for the mantids (not mantises). They are so hard to see. Their wing cases are veined to blend with the leaves they are sitting on. They wait motionless for a fly to come their way. Sometimes when I am searching I suddenly see one in the open right before my eyes.

A couple of hours after I took this photo I went back out to see if she was still there. On the leaf where she had been waiting there was the remains of a fly, a sucked out empty shell. Close by I found her with a fly's wing hanging from one side of her face.

Other praying mantis shots