Hoppers

 

A few more macro images from my walk on the heath in the New Forest.

It was a hot, sunny day and the air was filled with the buzzing sound of bees gathering nectar or pollen from the heather and gorse so I paused from time to time to try and capture some images of the industrious bees. But while I was trying to follow the bees at work I was also drawn to the sound of the grasshoppers all around. 

It was quite frustrating trying to spot them though, they were pretty small, and with their clever colouring I found it almost impossible to spot them, in fact I needed the assistance of my son who was on the trip with me.

If you zoom in you will see that they have really interesting eyes, you can also see the incredibly powerful legs they use to get out of the way of predators. I think they are pretty cool.

Camouflage

Ok so I know grasshoppers are not the most attractive creatures but they are pretty incredible, especially up close. They also have really effective camouflage. 

Take the first image, this chat was sat on some pebbles, basking in the sun. I imagine it was able to absorb a lot of heat because the stones it was on were quite hot but it is the camouflage that is most impressive. I don't know whether this is its normal colouring or whether it possesses some chameleon like colour change bio-technology.

I prefer the colours of the second hopper as it is a little easier for me to see. What I like about this second image however is the detail. Sadly because converting the image for the blog affects the resolution it isn't as sharp but it is still pretty good.