biatch bit me

A day of big ups and downs today at the grove. The first session was at 08:00 and immediately my legs were surrounded by a cloud of mosquitoes, despite the generous application of repellent. The copious amount of rainfall over the last week has caused a mass hatching of mozzies. I immediately retreated back to the house, with not a single shot fired. My first depressing thought was that this is possibly the end of the Bandung grove experience.

I only have one pair of long trousers that I need for immigration interviews and international travel so I did not want to spoil them. The other trousers did not fit last time I tried them. I decided to try them anyway and was pleasantly surprised, I have obviously lost weight. So with the legs taken care of, I searched for some sleeves. I found a fleece lined shirt that I bought for the Swedish winter. Perfect, back to work.

The pickings were slim on the second session and it was looking like a choice between a black ladybird, a bug, a couple of grasshopper shots and a butterfly that I blipped just a few days ago. Not very exciting so I decided to stick with it and do a few more laps.

I was slowly creeping forward, scanning the ground for blips when I felt a light bite on my toe and heard a lot of loud rustling. I looked down and there was a lizard menacingly looking up at me. It then bit my ankle and still held its ground. Fortunately its teeth were ineffective. I stood absolutely still and took a bunch of shots.

I was absolutely stunned that the lizard did not run away as they usually do. It was obviously very upset at being out blipped by a caterpillar yesterday and relegated to the rejects folder. It bit me once more and then I realized that I was standing on the tip of his tail. I apologized profusely and immediately let him go.

What a fluke of a blip opportunity, I suspect that it will be a long time before I top this one. The camouflage was amazing, I just did not see it even though I was looking intensely. I hope you enjoy this blip as I am really chuffed about it, but I do feel a tad guilty of how I achieved it. I'm just glad it wasn't a snake.

Dave