A grasshopper with only one rear leg

I have been busy all day sorting images for printing and finding necessary display equipment for the public event, in between sending and receiving emails, phone calls and an odd visit into the outer world. It has felt beautifully warm, the sort of weather I love and it bodes well for our holiday trip to cornwall next week.

Soon after Helena got home today I had the good news that the grant application ,which has been been absorbing a lot of my time and energy for the last week or so, was successful. So the Neighbourhood Development Plan will get nearly £7,000 to cover a lot of costs which will be incurred in the next few months of planning and then consultation with the whole community of the town.

After watching 'Pointless' with Helena, I spotted butterflies fluttering outside the front window and a very large dragonfly. So I fetched my macro lens and wandered outside. After looking for the insects I'd seen with no success I moved towards the street and then spotted a grasshopper leaping in front of me. I didn't see it land but by looking diligently I saw it on the top of the old large poppy plant that has virtually shrivelled up now leaving just the seed pods and a few of these leaves.

I took rather a lot of out of focus pictures in the bright sunlight and this is one of the better ones. I was surprised that it didn't leap away from my rather close lens, but in fact it seemed surprisingly at ease. It ,moved around and changed the direction it was facing but basically stayed on the same part of the plant. It wasn't until I had nearly finished that I realised it only had one rear leg, the other having been lost at some point. That leg (it's left hand side rear leg) is what I think the grasshopper uses for its amazing leaps, so perhaps that was why it wasn't behaving as I would have expected. But it is a rather amazing insect and I tried to get the whole of its body and antennae in focus which is surprisingly difficult in such a close up macro shot.

The bad news is that my wonderful telephoto zoom lens is rattling, which /i noticed after I found it wouldn't focus properly. It does then work again so there must be a loose connection inside the very complex mechanism. So I fear it means a costly repair job and i won't have the lens for our holiday at the seaside. Boo hoo!