I may be weird, but I love mini beasts

[KurriKurri]

I always have. All kinds of insects and spiders, I saw a crab spider the other day - it fell off a bramble and was sitting on my cardigan waving it's little claws second row down first left, don't click if you don't like spiders.
They can change their colour to match their background, - how cool can you get?

I was just looking it up for identification and when I saw that chart, I thought how lucky we are to have such a variety of beautiful creatures we can see in this country. And that's just the spiders, don't get me going on moths - I love moths - so many kinds from tiny to big furry ones - all that soft downy fur and the colours are incredible, moths are my favourite animals.

I know I sound like an over enthusiastic eight year old , but I'm just constantly amazed by these beautiful creatures.

Anyone else a bug fan? (or am I just slightly bonkers?)

OK - I got carried away - meant to post in chat - I don't actually think I am being U.

I always loved caterpillars and snails growing up.
I still do.
I have always been the person who disposes of spiders (humanely), at work, shared houses, friends used to ring me to come over in middle of night in my younger days.
Luckily DS2 is a self-proclaimed bug explorer and we can enjoy it together.
I am the same about rockpooling, I'm still there long after the boys have given up and gone making sandcastles or whatever getting overexcited over an anemone or whatever

Oh, sorry, YANBU

You'd get on well with DS!

rock pooling is the best fun, - I was lucky enough to grow up on the coast and spent many happy hours pottering about in rock pools.

It's great your DS is keen too - I think children are naturally fascinated by small creatures. Mine were always bringing in woodlice and beetles etc. when they were young, to look at under the magnifying glass

YANBU!! They are great. Having 5 boys means I've got used to looking at all sorts of bugs, and they are fascinating. I think I enjoy it more than my boys now!

Well, if YABU then so am I .

If I'm honest, my favourite creature is probably a wolf, a tiger or a peregrine but I am constantly amazed by the complexity and beauty of the tiny world lower down the food chain that supports all those glamorous poster animals.

Crab spiders are amazing. So beautiful. The chameleons of the arachnid world, and far more unappreciated.

Mind you.... I'm not feeling as friendly towards all invertebrate life. I have almost no veg garden left. The slugs and snails, on the other hand, have gone forth and multiplied. Again and again. Although I have noticed some lovely shell colours and some vivid orange slugs.

Do frogs count? Our garden is currently teeming with small frogs and I love going out looking at them.

Yes frogs, toads, newts, lizards all count Beamur. I have seen some enormous toads this year - don't know what they've been eating!

Sariska - I'm fascinated by all wildlife too, - and by the way that everything has it's place, and an important role to play. There was an interesting programme on the other day with Chris Packham - about the connectedness between the smallest and the largest beasts.

Frogs, toads, newts, Lizards yes!
Not so keen on snakes/slow worms (legless lizards my arse).

I love pond dipping too, waterboatmen are cool and tadpoles just fascinate me.

Oh I feel slightly less weird now

i love moths, not too great with spiders though i do not ever kill them - i got very very very cross with DD for spraying one with hair spray the other day and i bathed it and put it out - she thought i lost the plot when she asked what i was doing and i replied "washing the spider"

i adore moths. love em. i go around work catching the big fat ones that grace the station in the wee small hours

@ "washing the spider" Vicar!

also love mice, rats, toads, frogs, snakes and lizards! and really really big spiders (as in tarantulas) i can cope with.

yes DDs boyfriend was here when i shouted that one out.....pay back for spraying the poor thing with hairspray!

I love everything that crawls, slithers, scuttles and creeps :) I currently have Vapourer moth caterpillars on my sugar snap peas but haven't the heart to move them on after the shitty spring/summer they've had! Plus I have four wildlife ponds (and wish I could fit more in my tiny garden). As a result you can't move in the garden without knocking into some type of creepy crawlie.

I love all beasties, especially spiders, and look forward to passing on my love of creepy crawlies to DD. best moment ever was seeing a bird eating spider in Brazil and not being scared - it was awesome!

Must admit I committed an act of carnage recently when ants (including flying ants) invaded my kitchen through a vent, but I figured the local robin did well out of it - he was hopping around on the back step as I swept ants out of it, picking them off.

Oh I am mini beast fan

All beast to be honest.
I had a lovely 'natter' with a spider in the bath this morning, I needed him to leave for morning showers.

I also love pond life. It is the best part of the garden

Im a big bug fan!!! The crab spider changes colour so that it can blend into the plant and leap out on unsuspecting bee's.

This is my favourite moth <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=pink+fuzzy+moth&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&biw=1366&bih=638&tbm=isch&tbnid=UtMEn3HGXGt64M:&imgrefurl=bugguide.net/node/view/47722&docid=Zp4SCaFz_04rqM&imgurl=bugguide.net/images/cache/O0EQB06QF0SKVKXKVK4KVK5KZSIKLSPQD0GQD0EQ2KKKV0WQBKGKOKUQRS6QV0EQO0GQ30GKLS4KUKGQUK6QV0HK.jpg&w=560&h=439&ei=FUcQUOiNE6Ga1AXG64CICA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=193&sig=116376348858149390140&page=1&tbnh=138&tbnw=171&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:73&tx=79&ty=84" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Yellow and pink fuzzy moth

I also love the bombardier beetle.

at spider washing Vicar.

I always try to keep a big patch of garden round the pond fairly overgrown and wild, so the amphibians have somewhere to go, and I put down some old carpet tiles in the garden which the newts and toads hide under to hibernate.

We also get some amazing dragonflies coming to the pond - and I saw a big dragonfly larva in the water the other day, a huge thing - I reckon it could easily tackle a tadpole.

Feeling less loving towards horseflies at the moment though - since a posse of them ate me alive while I was out gardening a few days ago.

Love bugs, and love taking pictures of them! Terrified of spiders sadly, though the smaller jumping/wolf spiders are cute.

Got DS some 'pet' hissing cockroaches last Christmas - I'm well attached to them now - so cute!

Oh, and used to have giant african land snails for years ...

YANBU. Rockpooling and pond/stream dipping, looking under logpiles and stones... wonderful.

A few years ago they showed a 'pregnant' woodlouse on springwatch and subsequently DD and her friends found one - that was pretty amazing, tiny little mini woodlice clustered on the adult's underside. (I've also got leopard slugs but never seen them yet doing their hermaphrodite sex like on springwatch)

It is not in any way my fault that DD asked for hissing cockroaches for christmas. Sadly DH vetoed them - I'd have let her get some if she'd researched keeping them carefully.

I have to confess that however spectacular lily beetles are, having arrived in my area this year, they get eliminated. Why can't they mutate into say ivy beetles instead of munching my favourite patio plants?

BTW, the Top Trumps thread under Great Outdoors loves to hear of minibeast spots just as much as larger fauna and flora

Mycar - we had a tankful of ordinary garden snails in the kitchen for quite a while.

I love minibeasts too-I am forever reminding ds1+2 to be careful where they tread so as not to squish ants and the like.
I have a big spider living in my plate cupboard to keep the moth population under control (the ones which live on flour/grains etc I don't know what they are called in English), and I welcome having lizards and geckos in my house to catch mosquitos and flies-It is hot where I live!
I get so annoyed with people who spray or swat every passing bug-we need insects in our lives!

Glad dp is also an insect fan (we do draw the line at mosquitos and fleas though and use a repellant for the dc and the pets respectively!)