In the upside down

Off to Bristol again this morning, to get the car serviced this time.  On joining the A4 I found the traffic at a standstill.  The sat nav indicated that there was some sort of problem at the roundabout near the Keynsham by-pass so after 10 minutes with literally no forward progress I managed a U-turn and headed off to Bath, and from there to the motorway and to Bristol the long way round.  I was lucky and got to the garage only a bit later than planned.  Cathy texted me later to tell me that my traffic jam made it onto the Radio 2 traffic updates so I clearly got away lightly.

Today's blip is a slightly peculiar shot, because it is actually upside down, but it just doesn't look correct to my eyes when it is the "real" way up, so I have given you it upside down.  The subject, a newly emerged harlequin ladybird, has clamped itself to the underside of a leaf while its case and wings harden off.  At this point in the process, it has yet to develop its spots, which will be becoming evident in a few minutes time.

It was a devil of a shot to get.  Finding a position where I could get both feet planted firmly was the first problem.  It was too windy for a tripod, and when handheld I prefer to shoot using the viewfinder as this gives me a much more stable platform (2 hands and my head) to brace the camera with.  I didn't want to cause the insect to have to move, as it is quite vulnerable at this stage, so I ended up with the camera complete with flash and diffuser held  at arms length upside down below the insect, so that there was room for the flash.  That meant achieving focus using the rear view screen, which in turn meant putting on my reading specs.  Needless to say, it took several attempts.  I'm not really happy with the focus point which could have done being a fraction closer, but it what it is, and it isn't something you often see.

We've just heard that Jess and Nina have been discharged today and are finally going home, so we are hoping to meet Nina very soon :-)