Critters !

Having done my bit on the local flora, I thought I'd move on to the fauna today. A couple of days ago I had been sitting out on the porch, drinking my mid-morning cup of tea, when I felt a little tickle on my arm. Looking down I found a small, brown, praying mantis walking round my wrist. He was only about an inch long. He is a welcome visitor as he lives on gnats and other nasties, so I gently put him on a plant, and told him to stay around and get eating. Then yesterday afternoon, while I was bringing in the washing, I heard a noise, like something hard hitting the bamboo fencing, and there at my feet was a huge grasshopper. You can see in the photo that he was as long as my index finger. He was quite friendly. I picked him up to talk to him and he walked around my hand without making any effort to escape. He had been 'in the wars' as one of his antennae was half the length of the other. When you look closely at his face you can see where the early sci-fi film makers got their adeas for aliens! I thought he was rather fine. He eventually hopped away but he came back again today. I had to include this photo because in it, he has found a 'virtual' friend. Click on the image to enlarge it and see what you think. I think it looks as though he is talking to a little green parrot. Of course it is actually the deformed and spotted leaves on my poor little lemon tree, but when I went out to look at the tree where he had been sitting, I couldn't see a parrot at all! I wonder .....