Hiding in the Open

I was trying to take a photo of a pretty little moth on a carrot top when I suddenly realised that I was not the only one interested in it. This praying mantis nymph was waiting and hoping. It was 2.5 cm long and should have been easy to see, but I was lucky to spot it. To make her more visible I have selectively sharpened the mantis and blurred the background. Orthodera novaezealandiae, a New Zealand native.

This morning I spent three hours sawing and chopping firewood to all the sizes required for the stove. For a while the sun was hot, but I was working in the shade. As usual there was a cold wind. The wind is cold whichever direction it comes from these days. Since Christmas our weather has been more like late autumn than midsummer. The temperature was only 5ºC this morning.