"Bug with a tattoo"

On Friday I sent the boys into the garden and asked them to find anything interesting and photograph it. Within minutes Moshe found this handsome little plant bug (nymph?). Below you can see how big it is on my son's thumb. (12 year old, I assume it's Avremi's) . Moshe described it as a bug with a tattoo.

Moshe found this spider guarding it's den.. it has a network of silk on the ground which can detect potentially delicious passers-by. The spider attacked a ''daddy long legs" type spider and judging by remains found in other photographs had attacked these also in the past. (The boys are now working on a photoshopping exercise to put themselves in the picture wielding ''Sting" and taking him on! )

These are fruits from that tree up on the rocks by the north valley dirt road. I checked on them a few days ago to see if they had developed further but they were still green.

Last couple of days (friday, saturday) first bird up has again been the white spectacled bulbul calling musically in the Bauhinia at about 4.55 a.m. Both days also a sunbird chimed in within the next 10, 15 minutes. Friday afternoon a sunbird was singing beautifully while the grass was being sprinkled- many birds like to sing when there's white noise of water in the background. It was truly delightful to hear his sweet notes at that time.

House sparrows started up shortly after 5 a.m. and then hooded crows heard farther off. Laughing doves would start to coo within the next half hour or so.

Great spotted cuckoo heard calling down in the pines in east valley as we walked along valley road. Blackbird song heard, graceful warbler heard.

Quite a bit of hyrax activity especially by the pumping station. Gazelle crossed the east valley watercourse dirt road and headed up the hill to the east. Plenty greenfinches heard twittering around bunker rubble area, some great tit calls and activity in that general area. some collared dove coos, turtle dove coos, calls of bee-eaters, swifts overhead. Eurasian Jays glimpsed in the woods here and there.

Crickets and cicadas heard. Tiny black or almost black reptile briefly spotted, looked like tiny snake but there was a slight twitch to its movements that told me it was really a skink, that it had tiny legs but sadly didn't have much of a view as it vanished completely in the undergrowth. It was really small, barely 10 cm long. A couple of bats noticed as it got dark.

Weather: today's range: 29.5-19.5 degrees C. Time of walk ~7 p.m. ~25.5 degrees C 45% humidity, winds westerly 4-9 knots