What in the name of permaculture is this? It's eating my bees!!! That is a bee in it's mouth and that is a shovel handle it is perched on. Am I breeding something new? when it took off, after smugly posing for a few photographs it sounded like an ultralight plane...
Yep, that looks like the right beasty. Never heard of them before, it's funny how you can live your life thinking you know a few things, only to realise you know pretty much nothing. I'm glad it wasn't a robber fly that slipped into that chamber with Jeff Goldbloom. It looked mean to me. But, it is always nice to see new insects in your garden. I've seen a few Praying Mantis lately and I always take that as a sign your garden is a nice place for wee beasties to be.
I know it is a little sadistic, but I really enjoy dispatching grass hoppers by giving them to praying mantis in my back yard. Its a little gory but very entertaining.
I saw a stick insect last night and was thinking how nice it is to have a whole ecosystem going on outside my walls. I'm not sure I would have felt as kindly towards a Robber Fly....
