Nine

"What are you going to do for your nine-year thingy?" enquired R yesterday. "Oh, bugger," I said. "I'd completely forgotten." And then, "I'm going to go to Trench Wood, and find nine interesting invertebrates."

Several things occur to me about this. Firstly: of course I'd forgotten, even though I had an email about three days ago, reminding me. Because the time when I could credibly claim to be a competent administrator is long behind me, and these days I just bounce around reactively - like the ball in a pinball machine, but less shiny. Secondly: bless him. When I completed my 365, eight years ago, R said, "So is that it then? - assuming that we'd get our non-blipping lives back at last - and I had the feeling that he wasn't especially thrilled when I said I thought I might carry on for a while. He may well still not be thrilled by my fixation with getting the daily photo, but these days he just accepts it as one of the (many) prices he pays for being married to me. And thirdly: back when I started this malarkey, I barely knew one end of an insect from the other - it was blipping that started me looking at my surroundings more carefully, caused me to notice what fabulous subjects insects are, and sparked a passion not only for photographing but also for learning more about them. (One winter day, when I'm confined to barracks by bad weather, I might post a photo of my ever-expanding collection of wildlife guides). These days I tell anyone who asks, with an almost-straight face, that I'm a wildlife photographer and blogger (special focus: things with wings) - and without Blipfoto this most definitely would not have happened.

I'd like to thank everyone who reads my witterings, and responds so generously - especially as I'm out and about so much these days, running around after either wildlife or the Boy Wonder, that I'm constantly trying to stuff quarts of activity into pint pots of time, and this leads to me being a very poor blipmate. I really do appreciate you all though, even if I don't say it often enough. I'd also like to thank the Management, for stepping up when the site was under threat and making a community buyout a realistic possibility, and for continuing to keep the show on the road now. And R gets a special thank you, for being (mostly) tolerant of my obsessions, for accommodating nature reserve trips within our joint leisure time, and for lending me an eye when I can't decide what to post. He'd probably tell you that he doesn't know much about the stuff I photograph (though I'd assert that he knows more than he thinks he does), but he has a good eye for an image.

So, by row and left to right, my nine interesting blipversary invertebrates are:
Red and black froghopper; Volucella bombylans; Rhingia campestris
Female nomad bee; Beautiful Demoiselle; Broad-bodied Chaser
Dock bug orgy; Speckled Wood; 16-spot ladybird
The original images are up on my Facebook page, if you'd like to see them.