Beauties And The Beasts

I know that arachnids and flesh flies aren't blip friendly so I've sweetened the spider and Sarcophaga pill with a lovely song thrush and some pretty butterflies. I was pleased to get a peacock and a red admiral in the same frame on bramble this morning.

I was so excited when I saw that the labyrinth spider that I blipped the other day has got a mate. He's much smaller than she is and his parcel of sperm can be seen in his 'boxing glove' in the lower centre of my shot. No sign of him this afternoon, she was at the entrance to her tunnel of love munching a bright green juicy morsel. 

I found the flesh fly caught in a burdock flower bud. The clue to these flies' habits lies in their scientific name, Sarcophaga carnaria. Even so, the burdock's Velcro hooks are to aid seed dispersal not to catch flies so I spent ages disentangling the creature. It hopped onto my finger, rested for a while and then flew off. :)