Ironic follow-up

A huge response to my Halloween blip yesterday and the scratches on my head are healing nicely with no infection. Thanks for all the hearts, stars and wonderful comments.

Despite the planned blip, I still went out on a safari yesterday. I was staring into a bush, at shoulder height, studying a few ants working the area, when I swore that I saw a puff of smoke. Delusional I thought, but then it happened again and again. I thought that maybe the ants had stirred up some pollen somehow, but as I saw more smoke, it didn't seem to have anything to do with the ants.

There was the lightest of breezes, but the smoke seemed to emanate during the calm spells. I tried to photograph the strange event, but with minutes between emissions and never where I was focused, my reactions were too slow and very soon, despite the monopod, the effort became quite tiresome and I left with nothing. I should have at least got some images of the plant for research, DUH!

So, today's safari was to return with the right equipment for the job: a tripod and a remote shutter release. I soon found the plant, some sort of creeping vine using existing bushes as a climbing frame, no hooks or tendrils that I could see.

Alas, the breeze was a bit stronger today and after staring at this twig for an hour, no smoke. I clipped off a couple of feet of the plant with various stages of seed head, for a bit of study back at the lab. Hopefully in the days to come, I will be able to capture an image.

While I was standing there like a lemon, I felt a significant tickle on my calf. A year of bush blipping has taught me to always look before you scratch. Good decision, as there was this rather large spider slowly making its way north!

Today's lesson is how to deal with such situations:

1 - Don't swat at it. Bug reactions are far quicker than your own. It will see you coming a mile away and so there is a fair chance that you will get bit.

2 - Unless your name is Michael Flatley, try to resist the temptation of going into your riverdance routine, all that jigging about is only going to irritate the arachnid, something that we are trying to avoid. In fact, keep your leg perfectly still.

3 - Choose your camera settings carefully. Unless your legs go upto your armpits, you haven't got all day for this session. Get it right first time.

4 - Remove flip-flop from other foot and flick the spider off.

5 -Now you can show the farmers your best riverdance routine while screaming like a girl.

Kind of Ironic after yesterday's blip, when I was contemplating the idea of blipping a spider on my head.

Dave