Jason and posch - Thank you both for your kind comments and help with identification....and having now Googled for further info and images, I'm pleased to say Jason, that your hat is (of course) perfectly safe and not destined to meet your tum this side of Christmas
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Hi DC ~ Thanks for your encouraging comments
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Well this pic was taken with a Nikon D80 (a DSLR) and a dedicated close-up lens - the Nikon 105mm Macro VR. ISO (sensitivity) was set to 100 to keep noise (graininess) low and the lens was stopped down to f/16 to give a reasonable depth of field. I use the pop-up flash (some form of lighting needed at f/16) and manually set focus to closest possible.
Having spotted my subject I position myself and the camera so that as much as possible of the insect is in the same plane of focus and move the lens until the nearest part of the insect is in sharp focus in the viewfinder....then I mentally cross my fingers and take the pic. If possible I take 3 or 4 more similar shots and chose the best one when I get home.
Happy Christmas to All!
Bruce