It continued to explore the plant and at one time fell in the pond. As I was interested to see what it was I rescued it and placed it on the edge of the pond.
At the time I hadn't the faintest idea what I was looking at. I just though it was an interesting beetle. Much later, after a lot of searching the net looking for the wrong thing, I finally identified it as a Vine Weevil. If I had known that to start with I would have been tempted to leave it when it fell in the pond. It was back near the beginning of April when I was investigating the demise of my strawberry plants in the greenhouse that I found the compost was full of the grubs of the Vine Weevil. See Grubbing About.
The weevil must like walking as much later in the day I saw it, or a relative, walking at the top of the kitchen window which at least gave another chance for a double reflection photo opportunity.
How do they manage to walk on smooth vertical surfaces?
Addendum:
Jan (Shysongbird) gave me a link to an interesting article from New Scientist on the subject of how creatures walk up walls and across ceilings without falling off.
Why evil? It, or one of its relatives, was responsible for killing off my lovely strawberry plants which I had moved to the greenhouse in the hopes of an early crop.
Well, John, I was all ready to comment on your beautiful butterfly/sunflower photos when lo and behold, I was eye to eye with a dastardly evil weevil, responsible for destroying your strawberry plants! Not to worry,though, as the bug seems to have suffered a reaction to them because I'm sure it is sporting hives! ;) Anyway, very interesting sleuth work to come up with what it was ~ and another effectively reflective post :) Very detailed shots ~
ReplyDeleteNow back to the sunflowers, your butterflies and birds ~ I can understand you doing a double take ~ how fortunate that you had time to get your camera. I've never seen a butterfly on a sunflower before, and that particular one is a perfect match. Your bird photos are sweet, and I especially like the little one peering into the grass ...
Good morning Glo. It was a bit of a contrast between beautiful butterflies and an evil weevil :)
ReplyDeleteThe big Sunflower often had butterflies visit but that has been the only time I have seen them on the small Sunflowers so I was lucky they stayed long enough for a photo opportunity.
This morning I missed an opportunity I have been trying for for a couple of years - a pair of Greenfinches taking the seeds from the large Sunflower. Hopefully they will be back for more.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
John
ReplyDeleteMagic shots and identification
Thank you Terry. I spent ages looking for beetles when I actually needed to search for weevils.
ReplyDeleteHave you got the camcorder tamed yet?
It does have an evil look about it John ;) but you took some great photos. I realise it may have been a hypothetical question but given your interest in 'the working' of things you may find the following link interesting (or not!).
ReplyDeletehttp://mf.mpg.de/en/abteilungen/arzt/bio/newsci.htm
Thank you Jan. The link was very interesting and explains a lot about the way creatures are able to walk up walls and across ceilings.
ReplyDeleteEvil maybe, but lovely shots John.
ReplyDeleteThey certainly do some damage.
Thank you Keith. I won't say how many shots I binned to get those few :) It was constantly on the move - looking for more strawberry plants maybe!
ReplyDeleteI would rather have strawberries than that evil 'beastie' :-)
ReplyDeleteIsn't the internet great for researching stuff? I've used it several times this year for ladybirds and butterflies. By the way, did the evil weevil go to meet its maker?
ReplyDeleteSo would I Mick. At least I can recognise the beast now and have found out how to deal with the problem in the greenhouse.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is Matron though the sheer amount of information can be overwhelming at times. Especially if your search criteria is not narrow enough.
ReplyDeleteNot that one - but I don't fancy the chances of any others I spot!!
Hmmm interesting post today John. So from what I've just read do you mean they lay their eggs in the soil and as they hatch eat the roots of plants? I don't think I have ever seen a bug like this in my garden.
ReplyDelete