I’ve spent most of my Sunday out on the patio relaxing, enjoying the sun and so on. When suddenly the peace was interrupted by a flying monster, yelling out “mayday, mayday” as he approached my sunbed at an unbelievable speed and without any sign of stability at all – like if he had lost a wing or something.
Crash!
Right there, next to my sunbed, was this huge bug on his back trying to get back on his feet and take off again. Well, to be honest, it was probably only around 1.5″ long or something like that, though I’m not sure what kind of bug this actually is, any ideas?). He buzzed around for a few minutes when I decided to go grab my camera and shoot a few close-up pictures of the beast, just in case he transformed into something really scary, I would need pictures to prove what I saw. It didn’t, though.
I soon realised that this wing shot bug wasn’t able to get back on his feet without help, so I nudged him a bit with my shoe and it helped. Apparently my patio was too comfortable and he didn’t look like something wanting to take off anytime soon. With the help of a dustpan I picked him up and pushed him over the edge. I hope his engines fired up in time before he hit the ground…
Less than a minute thereafter, another one came!! I don’t know what these bugs eat for dinner, but it’s apparently affecting their ability to fly. This one flew right into one of the poles holding my awning and crashed immediately. It actually looked a bit funny. The only thing he could have possible hit, he hit it. That’s what I call target fixation!
This guy, however, had no intentions of sticking around. Crawling several meters on his back trying to get back into a take off position. Even tried to take off while being up-side down. Needless to say, it didn’t work…
Once again I decided to go for a little nudge and it helped. Back on his feet, he was so quick to take off that I only managed to shoot a picture of his shadow. But he flew right into the wall and crashed again!
It had been exciting with some company but my “Angels & Demons” book, which I started back in 2006 and now had less than 40 pages left in, was waiting for me back on the sunbed. I had no more time to play around with these bugs as Robert Langdon was in great danger, only minutes away from being blown to smithereens along with Vatican City. I had no other choice than once again pick up my dustpan and scoop the bug over the edge. I’m sorry to say, it didn’t fly. I sure hope he doesn’t come back for revenge next weekend, in case he survived.
If it does, I’ll have the dustpan ready.
Looks like it could be an “oldenborre”, but at the close-up it looks like it has a snout http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=da-dk&q=oldenborre&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Yep, it does look like it had a snout, both of them actually, as I remember.
Looks like some sort of Japanese Beetle, but I am no bug expert. Definitely a beetle though.
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The way they fly, it’s no wonder how a Japanese beetle could end up in Malta 🙂
I once heard that beetles could survive some kind of nuclear explosion – I wonder if that’s true?
I don’t care so much about fly as long as they don’t bother me and the food. 🙂