Back in January 2021, I bought myself a new camera in preparation for making our documentary ‘In the Footsteps of Isabella Bird’. We were to explore the west coast states of Malaysia and imagine what Isabella would have experienced on her visit in 1879. But the COVID-19 pandemic put paid to that project, and for most of this year I have been confined to my flat, only going out for essentials. So photographic opportunities have been rather restricted. In early August I went out with the Malaysian Red Crescent for the first time in months, and came across this example of a typical Malaysian feral cat, well kitten actually. So I thought I would collect together photos of wildlife spotted within the confines of Palm Gardens Condominium, where I live during this endless lockdown.
I have a calamansi lime plant on my balcony, and in January it was covered in blossom. So I helped the pollination process along with a small paint brush and was rewarded with many fruits. In February I was checking out the plant and noticed this tiny spider. I knew straight away that it was a jumping spider as I had seen many similar spiders on a photography FB group I follow. It turns out that this is a Tan Jumping Spider, and in this photo you are looking at its rear end. The new camera lens I had bought turned out to have a ‘macro’ function which meant I could take close-up photos and keep the subject in focus.
My lime plant had been attracting leaf hoppers which were leaving globules of honey dew on the branches. And these in turn were attracting a white fungus. I wrote about this in Feb (My Balcony Garden). As a result, I became a little obsessive about the sort of wildlife attracted to my little garden.
On the left is a wasp attracted to the calamansi lime flowers. It did not stay long enough for me to get a better shot.
Living in the tropics, one always seems to have to put up with cockroaches. This year seemed to be a bumper year for these creatures and we went through quite a number of cans of insect spray. They do fly and sometimes you can feel them crawling across your hair when in bed. Thankfully that experience is rare. Typically went to have squirted the spray of death at a cockroach, it runs around like mad, defecates, and then ends up on its back. From this position it cannot turn over. And when it stops wriggling, it can be swept up and thrown away. Such is the cycle of life!
In April my garden was positively writhing in the wrong stuff! Here we have a woolly aphid, about 5 mm in length, devouring my curry tree.
The elegant black insect, also on my curry tree, is a leaf footed bug nymph. I was lucky that it stayed still long enough for me to get my camera. I guess it was about 1 cm long.
April was a busy month for my lockdown safari…
on the left is the empty chrysalis casing of a bagworm moth, hanging from an orchid leaf. This one was about 2 cm in length and had the most extravagant casing.
Two days later I spotted another one on a different orchid plant on my balcony.
Anyone who has visited Malaysia will be familiar with this little creature… the Malaysian House Gecko. Normally they run away as soon as they detect your presence, but this one (about 6 cm in length) just stayed put on the wall. They are a nuisance in that they leave their droppings everywhere, but they do eat flies and small insects, so there’s an up side. Sadly they have a tendency to get squashed in doorways!
In May I spotted a gecko hiding from the sun under the metal bars of my bathroom window. Being back-lit, you can see its insides!
One of the few plants on my balcony which doesn’t seem to have been infected and survives the relatively harsh weather conditions (too much sun), is a Mother-in-Law’s tongue, or snake plant. In May I discovered the empty casing of a beetle stuck to one of the many vertical leaves.
And the largest of the insects so was spotted in July on a plant at the entrance to our building. It is a Malaysian grasshopper (Valanga nigricornis); bright green and yellow and about 7 cm long. I was told that these were quite tasty served fried!
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