Stevietheclegwhisperer!
Ouch, lol. Well I asked for it! (Excuse my hairy hand!) Annual open day at Barry Buddon MOD camp, with its assorted habitats. All the local natural history groups enjoy their day of exploring on this special site. Clegs are always numerous there and since I accepted that being bitten was inevitable, specially when standing still trying to capture various insect shots, I decided I would follow some of my flickr contacts examples and take a shot of it feeding. I'd previously experienced being "stabbed" and I guess I thought that would be pretty much it, but NO, it was so much more! A sensation of a stab, followed by a mini slash, ok a bit painful. I thought once the mouthparts were inserted, I wouldn't feel anything, but actually I was beginning to think she had struck a major artery! Ok, quick half dozen shots with DSLR, but not easy one handed, since it was my left hand she had chosen. Glutton for punishment, just to ensure I had a record of the event, I also fished my trust Optio W10 from my pocket and dashed off a few shots with it too. Ooooh, still feeling the discomfort (got to be honest, it was sore, but I've felt worse). However trying to dislodge her was a different matter altogether! Would she let go? I didn't want to kill her, so after gently trying to brush her off unsuccessfully, I finally managed to slide a pond rush under her body and virtually had to lever her out. What a grip. How we laughed!!!
Stevietheclegwhisperer!
Ouch, lol. Well I asked for it! (Excuse my hairy hand!) Annual open day at Barry Buddon MOD camp, with its assorted habitats. All the local natural history groups enjoy their day of exploring on this special site. Clegs are always numerous there and since I accepted that being bitten was inevitable, specially when standing still trying to capture various insect shots, I decided I would follow some of my flickr contacts examples and take a shot of it feeding. I'd previously experienced being "stabbed" and I guess I thought that would be pretty much it, but NO, it was so much more! A sensation of a stab, followed by a mini slash, ok a bit painful. I thought once the mouthparts were inserted, I wouldn't feel anything, but actually I was beginning to think she had struck a major artery! Ok, quick half dozen shots with DSLR, but not easy one handed, since it was my left hand she had chosen. Glutton for punishment, just to ensure I had a record of the event, I also fished my trust Optio W10 from my pocket and dashed off a few shots with it too. Ooooh, still feeling the discomfort (got to be honest, it was sore, but I've felt worse). However trying to dislodge her was a different matter altogether! Would she let go? I didn't want to kill her, so after gently trying to brush her off unsuccessfully, I finally managed to slide a pond rush under her body and virtually had to lever her out. What a grip. How we laughed!!!