Over the summer I have been doing the very unusual thing of collecting dead bugs. Hold on now before you up and leave because you think I am a complete freak, I didn't go searching for the deceased - they found me (if thats any better)! They almost fell into my hands in a short space of time, it was as if I was meant to find them.
It started off when walking into the garden during the summer I saw a dragon fly, I walked up to it to take a closer look to discover he had sadly passed, so I (of course!) kept him in an old chinese takeaway pot. My brother then passed on the female stag beetle he found a few days earlier.
What I believe to be Elephant Hawk Moth (the pink and green one) has a funny little story attached. It was flying around our kitchen and I was snapping away while my dad carefully held him with a wooden spatular!!! I was fascinated with it - It was so vibrant! The colour was incredible. Then after a few photos were taken it flew away and I couldn't find it until...
...The next morning my mum enters the room holding 'her' mug, half asleep after her night shift and looks at me,
''Guess what I just found in my tea''
Turns out the little creature made his way to a 'safe' spot inside my mothers extra large mug which is kept on the kitchen side as to big to keep in the cupboard. She had poured in the boiling water, and as she went to remove the teabag thought she had accidentally put in two, until she took it out to discover what it was.
She was mortified! I was thrilled, not at its terrible hot bath experience (I hope he died before!), but that I could look at it in closer detail. I added him to my take away tub and the collecting continued.
Mr (or Mrs) white moth was found randomly in my bedroom one morning. I was taking photographs of the silky blue moth one evening when I put it on a glass. This was during the summer so I left the window open, and the glass containing the moth next to it so it could fly out when it wanted to leave. In the morning he was gone like expected. Then some months later when travelling back to uni, I decided to take my bug collection with me, when lifting a box to put my stuff in, there it was (yes I do believe it is the same moth!) he wanted to be part of the gang! And the random lil fly, I found whilst unpacking my little pot of bodies.
I haven't photographed them yet, but I scanned them at a high resolution to look at them in detail - I don't have a microscope so I am making use of what I do have! *WARNING* If you don't like bugs I suggest you avert your - but they really are interesting!
