Carnage

If you have a weak stomach, look away now. Under no circumstances look at this in large.

I would not normally blip the same critter two consecutive days. But as soon as I went outside at lunch time, I saw the mantid, and what I saw shocked and horrified me.

With incredible ease it was catching and munching on honey bees. I won't describe the method in detail - but suffice to say it would hurt. Especially the bee.

In order to get this image to look like Quentin Tarantino, I actually used fill flash for the very first time. (Did you know that bees do not have red blood - fact).

In the couple of hours that I was watching this - on and off - I reckon the mantid killed at least 6 bees. Suffice to say that yesterday these oregano flowers were absolutely crawling with bees; today, there are very few around.

We are thinking of putting up a sign - MANTID PREYING ON BEES: NATIVE BEES KEEP WELL AWAY.