Creepy-Crawlies

Over the past week, I've been shooting nothing but bugs and other crawlies. They are bugging me all the time; even in my sleep, I dream of the critters that got away, and especially the female spider wrapping up the male for dinner after having mated with him. My favourite location to look for the bugs is Telok Blangah Hill Park which is close by. Whenever I have an hour or so, I'll just nip up the hill to hunt for them.

Mornings are the best times, as the bugs come out in search of breakfast, it is a bit tricky for them as they may also fall prey to other hungry predators, and become breakfast meal for others. As I had become a familiar harmless figure amidst the bushes, the bugs just ignore me, some even pose for me, inviting me to take the shots. Two insects seemed to like my presence, the assassin bug(Hemiptera Reduviidae) and the orange coloured leaf hopper (Bythoscopus Ferrugineus). Sometimes, I swear they were putting up a big smile for the shots.

To be successful in insect hunt, one must be able to imagine oneself as an insect darting from bush to bush and encountering all kinds of friends and foes, and always on the lookout for food, and to be especially alert to keep predators away. You gotta to be jungle smart to stay alive. You are lucky if you have safety in numbers like in an ant colony, otherwise it's everybody for himself, using the God-given talents to survive. Caterpillars seem to be easy picks, but they appear quite aggressive, with spikes all over their body and also emit horrific odours to scare away anyone who comes near. I must try to collect enough of these strong odours and spray them in the crowded MRT carriage if I want to secure a seat.

Hunting and shooting these insects, gives me such a thrill, especially when I spot an insect which I have not seen before. As a novice every outing is a new experience, since there are about a million insect species around the world. These do not include spiders, scorpions and centipedes. These outings have become my learning journey into the world of insects. Not so long ago, people would actually go out with a big net and swish around to collect the insect species, pin them and store them for identification and study. It's a cruel way to learn about the insects. Now, most people like me, would photograph them and file them away digitally for study and identification. I do it the hard way, on a tight budget. I use a prosumer camera and close up lens to capture the images. It is the hard way because I will have to get pretty close to the insects to photograph them: at a camera to subject distance of between 10 to 20 cm. I don't have the luxury of more expensive camera lens which would give me more working distance, thus ensuring the insects don't get frightened away by the camera being too close.

Sometimes I go out with a friend but mostly I hunt alone. I laughed at myself when I get into a comical situation as when I spent a good 5 minutes shooting a bug and later found out it was actually the skin of the nymphal stage that the adult fly had shed, but the skin and shape of the bug remained intact. Another occasion, I was engrossed into shooting something I thought was a new find, but later found that it was a leaf or seed of a flowering tree. The forest play tricks on your vision as you concentrate on doing your thing.

One day I was so thrilled to spot a male fighting spider; it brought back memories of old when as a kid, I would go and trap these male spiders and groom them for battle with spiders of other kids. We went through sex education the practical way with these spiders. Often the children would catch the female spiders as mates for the male, thus enabling him to fight better after having mated, so that was what we thought. Kennynair, we found that this did not work for all males, some males after mating become weaker, and when they face another male spider they become "puchat" and show their tails.