Praying Mantis

Looking at the camouflage on this mantis, it's a wonder that I saw it, but I did.

Have a look at those jaws in large

In fact I was stalking kingfishers when I noticed it fly after a cricket.
Quick change of lens and hey presto! A praying mantis.

Can I have a rant? Well a little rant .. a rantlette ..

This morning I was working at the university with the MBA students, it was raining a fine misty rain as I was leaving, so I decided against going on my motorbike (I a biking wooz really).
Anyway, I live on top of a really big hill that dominated the Garonne valley - lovely views across to The Pyrénées mountains, but we tend to get our heads in the clouds (in more ways than one) when it is raining.
So, anyway, I left in the car, when I got to valley at the bottom of the hill it was dry and a little sunny, but I didn't want to waste time going back home and getting my bike out, so I continued into Toulouse - this was at just after 7:30 am.

I travelled about 6 kilometers and hit a traffic jam, that was just not moving.
So to cut a long story short, 2 hours later I got to the end of the traffic jam, where a group of striking building workers had totally blocked one of the busiest roundabouts into the centre of Toulouse.
I read some of the posters that asked "Give us your support" - Give them a slap more like!!
#EndOfRant

This evening was quite warm - I noticed two red kites ... I guess they are back from the mountains, a kingfisher (yeah, I know), some sandpipers and some buzzards, but decided on the macro.

If you are interested, this is what National Geographic says about the Praying Mantis :
The praying mantis is named for its prominent front legs, which are bent and held together at an angle that suggests the position of prayer. The larger group of these insects is more properly called the praying mantids. Mantis refers to the genus mantis, to which only some praying mantids belong.

By any name, these fascinating insects are formidable predators. They have triangular heads poised on a long "neck," or elongated thorax. Mantids can turn their heads 180 degrees to scan their surroundings with two large compound eyes and three other simple eyes located between them.

Typically green or brown and well camouflaged on the plants among which they live, mantis lie in ambush or patiently stalk their quarry. They use their front legs to snare their prey with reflexes so quick that they are difficult to see with the naked eye. Their legs are further equipped with spikes for snaring prey and pinning it in place.

Moths, crickets, grasshoppers, flies, and other insects are usually the unfortunate recipients of unwanted mantid attention. However, the insects will also eat others of their own kind. The most famous example of this is the notorious mating behavior of the adult female, who sometimes eats her mate just after—or even during—mating. Yet this behavior seems not to deter males from reproduction.

Females regularly lay hundreds of eggs in a small case, and nymphs hatch looking much like tiny versions of their parents.