Watching Nature in Action

While tending my bonsai trees I've learnt to develop an appreciation for other aspects of nature that I never took much notice of in the past.

Part of that involves observing the creatures that visit my bonsai garden and trying to work out whether they are going to harm my little trees.

At certain times of the year I'll come across unwelcome guests like grasshoppers and caterpillars and those need to be relocated before they can do any serious damage. As a photographer, however, I'll often spend a little time trying to get a decent shot before I move them to a part of the garden where there are no bonsai trees. I've managed to get some nice shots that way, like this one of a pretty striped caterpillar which I found eating the leaves on one of my trees a couple of years ago.

Resident in my bonsai garden are some little lizards, or to be more accurate geckos. I often see them scampering along the walls and some even seem to have made their home inside my greenhouse. They're tiny creatures - around two inches in length - and move quite quickly, so I was lucky to get this photo of one on the frame of my greenhouse before I frightened it off.

I had a rare experience inside my greenhouse today. While I was watering my trees I noticed a small moth hiding beneath the leaves. Apparently my activity disturbed it because, no sooner had I seen it than it flew off in the direction of the greenhouse ceiling. Sadly the window wasn't open so it was unable to get out, but headed to the back wall where one of my gecko friends was hiding in the framework. In a flash it grabbed the moth, but the startled creature somehow managed to escape and flew back towards the ceiling. Then for some mysterious reason it flew back in the direction from which it had come, and this time there was no escaping the jaws of the gecko.

How I wish I'd had a video camera on hand, because that's not something I'm ever likely to witness again.

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Linking up to The Ultimate Rabbit Hole, Saturday's Critters and Camera Critters.