Caught and released...

Getting ready to go out this morning I spied this little creature crawling along the bathroom rug.

A bit of ladybird wrangling later and he/she was sitting pretty on a scrunched up bit of tissue with me breathing down its neck with my camera hovering over. It's covered in bits of fluff, probably from the rug and tissue I used to catch it. I quite like the really long strand which looks like some kind of attached tracking device?

There were a few attempts at flying off before I let it go. Hopefully its now decided it's time to hibernate and gone to find other to do so. I think they like to hibernate in groups?

I caught this shot as the wing elytra flirted open for a second or two. I think it's a harelquin ladybird, which is a non-native to the UK.

I dont' have a dedicated macro lens so this was taken with a nifty bit of kit you just attach to your lens - Raynox DCR-250 Macro Attachment. It's worked well for me until I can save enough pennies for a proper macro lens.