Shan Ding Lu

It must be said that the range of beautiful insects in Taiwan is truly amazing.

Not much survives the blanket spraying practised on the agricultural lands. There are few really interesting insects in and around our street. But if you move away from the betel nut groves and rice fields into the forests in the mountains you are overwhelmed with the range insects.

There has recently been a beetle craze amongst children with a good specimen worth quite a bit for the keen collector, or persuadable parent. We acquired a discounted 5 legged beetle and managed to keep him alive for a good couple of months. We found this vicious looking beetle in a stream in the mountains recently.

Taiwan is rightly famous for the huge range of butterflies. You see them everywhere you go. Big, small and very colourful. They don’t hang around and are difficult subjects to photograph.

Caterpillars are a little less mobile, but better camouflaged and require a sharper eye to find.

This bee was quite the opposite; it didn’t want to leave my thumb.

And this spider is the size of a hand-span at least.

Keep an eye on the Insects album as I add every creeping, crawling or flying insect that stays still long enough.

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