Winter Mantis

I thought I’d seen the last praying mantis for the season, but I discovered this female sunning herself on the male Coprosma. She is resting, rather than standing alert. Her abdomen shows that she has been eating.

Two more egg cases have vanished from the same post that the other one disappeared from. A branch grows close to it and I suspect rodents are responsible. The cases are too tough to be attractive to birds. However, as I found two new cases in the greenhouse the total still stands at 24.

My son helped me with the firewood today. We cut and stacked as much wood as several days work on my own. There is enough for 2 or 3 weeks stacked on the veranda, and heaps more packed away in sheds.