An egg case, as promised

This is what the egg case of a praying mantis looks like. It is about 1 - 1 1/2 inches long, made of a funny dried bubbly stuff. This one would have hundreds and hundreds of babies in it but once they hatch, and eat each other in the first days, there will be many less.
Fortunately, the shovel handle this is on is not from the only shovel we own. We will keep it safe until the little ones hatch out - next spring, I presume.
I contacted the Royal BC Museum as no praying mantids were listed as having been found here so I am sending them a couple specimens.
No frost yet.
I had a call from the gentleman who is studying badgers. They would like to set aside appropriate crown land as badger habitat but there really isn't any in our valley so I hope the private land owners encourage the wildlife.