Death and Destruction...

... of a bee.  An extraordinary turn of events as I was working on my Flower Friday entry today.  I had taken a couple of shots inside of a hebe but wasn't happy with the quality of the flower and went to find a better one. I noticed a bee flitting around the hebes so went back and grabbed my camera. I took one photo (extra 1)and was watching the bee fly to another flower then it was fluttering its wings, not on the flower but a few centimetres below. It took me a second to realise it was in the clutches of a very well camouflaged praying mantis that neither I or (obviously) the bee had seen. (extras 2 and 3) In extra 4 you can see just how firmly the mantis had the bee in its grip - the bee never had a chance. The other extras show the bee being eaten one step at a time, the head and wings were first and it wasn't that long before there was absolutely nothing left.  It was an eventful exercise! 
I'm not sure that this qualifies for Flower Friday now? Thank you again to Biker Bear for hosting.