Hopping mad

Well, it was nice while it lasted. After yesterday's bright sunshine, today we found ourselves firmly back in autumn, with dark, windy, drizzly conditions that were frankly fairly hopeless for macro photography. But I didn't get where I am today without wasting time on fools errands, so off out I went with the macro and the ring flash, and spent almost two hours trudging around, photographing nothing more interesting than this rather sweet little chap - my very first subject of the day.

I spotted it on ivy on a birch tree half way down the garden, and pursued it for five minutes or so, while it frantically dodged back and forth to try to keep either a stem or a leaf between itself and the camera. Based on its spiny rear thighs I'm pretty sure it's a leafhopper (though I haven't been able to find out which one), so I'm a little mystified as to why it didn't simply fly away. Perhaps it was too cold. Anyway, as soon as I had a couple of reasonable shots I left it in peace, and I trust that it eventually regained its equilibrium.

And now to this week's Tiny Tuesday results. Many thanks to everyone who took part - I very much enjoyed looking through all your images this evening.

In no particular order, my hearts this week have gone to:

jensphotos - for the hilariously fierce stare of a tiny, outraged jumping spider.

osuzanna - for some intriguing milkweed seed pods, beautifully shot.

Hanulli - for the funniest entry of the week - her Hanullis undertaking some tomato mining.

bugsman - for an adorably tiny lizard scaling a fence.

Sheol - for a lovely capture of a Rhingia campestris, which I know all too well are not cooperative subjects.

And - again in no particular order - my Honourable Mentions this week go to:

Incredibish - for proving that you can do macro even when you can't go out.

Miranda1008 - for a lovely cranesbill flower.

CherryR - for an intriguing shell.

Barking - for nailing a honey bee in flight with her new camera.

Annie - for a teeny baby tortoise (awww!!).

DonnaWanna - for creating abstract art from some baby parsnips.

Next week will be my last at the helm of Tiny Tuesday (for a while, at least), and I'd love it if you'd all play again. The tag will be TT332.