A LONG WALK DOWN BY THE RIVER

It was a hot summer day here where I live, but about a hundred kilometers north of this place, the weather was refreshingly warm. Warm weather can feel almost slightly cold when compared to the hot. I spent the whole morning and a couple of hours in the early afternoon in the woods and meadows along the canals of the river Mirna, in the area between the town called Motovun and the small city of Buzet.

(Enlargeable)

In this post, you'll see some insects, spiders, and plants I found and photographed there.

You'll see a bit of the scenery too.

In this shot, the following one, and in the opening photograph as well, you can see a well-camouflaged Oxyopes heteropthalmus spider with its prey.

(Enlargeable)

When it comes to the insect in the spider's fangs, the name of the species is Eysarcoris aeneus. Eysarcoris aeneus is a shield bug from the Pentatomidae family.

(Enlargeable)

This is the Micropodisma salamandra, a grasshopper that I rarely encounter because it can't be found in my southern, seaside area.

A bit later, closer to the river ...

... I found another grasshopper of the same kind. This one was covered with dew.

After the grasshopper, I photographed this moth - the Celypha cespitana, a small species from the Tortricidae family, and then ...

... I came across two much bigger moths that looked a lot like some kind of wasps when seen from a distance.

In this, the previous, and the three following photographs ...

(Enlargeable)

... you can see the Bembecia scopigera moths mating.

These diurnal moths belong to the Sesiidae family.

This is another species I encounter only in the northern, inland areas of Istra.

After some more walking along the river ...

... I came across a group of reeds. In this and the following photograph, you can see a spider that has built a web between the leaves on the top of one of those plants.

When it comes to the name of the species, this is a juvenile Argiope bruennichi, a spider from the Araneidae family. The Argiope bruennichi shown here was eating some very small insect that I'm not able to identify because only its wings are visible in the picture.

This bushcricket nymph was photographed on one of the lower leaves of the same reed. A group of droplets are also part of the scene.

In this shot, I came closer to the little pearls made of water.

The bushcricket is commonly known as the long-winged conehead. The scientific name is Conocephalus fuscus.

On another leaf of the same plant, I photographed a nymph of the Ruspolia nitidula bushcricket.

(Enlargeable)

On the blackberry shrub, not far from the reeds, I found Coraebus rubi, a beetle from the Buprestidae family.

(Enlargeable)

After some more walking, about a hundred meters or so ...

... on the vegetation very close to the water this time ...

(Enlargeable)

... I photographed a beautiful iridescent damselfly.

The name of the species is Calopteryx splendens.

In this relatively bad, slightly motion-blurred photograph, you can see the damselfly eating some small pale insect.

About twenty meters further from the river, I found a different kind of damselfy.

(Enlargeable)

Platycnemis pennipes is the name of this species.

Here you can see the same damselfly photographed in ambient light. The flash can distort the colors quite a bit in some cases.

Here you can see a detail of a plant that grows close to the river.

It's one of the plants that I can't find in my area.

This is a fairly young shoot of the Equisetum telmateia.

Young shoots are edible ...

... so I picked a few for dinner.

In the following photograph, after all these shoots ...

... you can finally take a look at the completely developed plants.

The shoots were covered with morning dew ...

... so I came closer with my camera ...

... to show you the beautiful droplets.

In the same area, I photographed another juvenile Argiope bruennichi spider.

Two or three hundred meters further ...

... I reached the small bridge on one of the narrow canals bordered with lush vegetation.

I found another Micropodisma salamandra grasshopper there.

Since I can't find this species in my area, I always take plenty of Micropodisma salamandra portraits when the opportunity arises.

This is the Lysimachia vulgaris plant.

Two flowers have fallen on the leaf of the same plant ...

(Enlargeable)

... and that looked very cool in the photographs.

(Enlargeable)

This plant that thrives in moist habitats can't be found in my, much dryer, area.

(Enlargeable)

This is the nymph of the Mecostethus parapleurus grasshopper. In the following photograph ...

(Enlargeable)

... to take a break from the macro and close-up view, I zoomed in on some distant houses.

Some minutes later ...

... I photographed a dragonfly.

(Enlargeable)

The name of the species is Orthetrum coerulescens.

Here you can see yet another Micropodisma salamandra grasshopper.

These iridescent beetles from the genus Anthaxia of the Buprestidae family were mating among the small yellow flowers of the Galium verum plant. In the following photograph ...

(Enlargeable)

... you can take one last look at the old wooden bridge.

The post started with the Oxyopes heteropthalmus with its prey. I decided to end the thing with the same scene. Hope you enjoyed the journey. As always here on Hive, the photographs are my work.

The following links will take you to the sites with more information about the protagonists of this post. I found some stuff about them there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyopes_heterophthalmus
https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Pentatomidae/eysarcoris_aeneus.html
https://www.grasshoppersofeurope.com/linnaeus_ng/app/views/species/nsr_taxon.php?id=1182
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celypha_cespitana
https://gdoremi.altervista.org/sesiidae/Bembecia_scopigera_en.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_bruennichi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conocephalus_fuscus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruspolia_nitidula
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coraebus_rubi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banded_demoiselle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-legged_damselfly
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equisetum_telmateia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysimachia_vulgaris
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecostethus_parapleurus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeled_skimmer
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/173113-Anthaxia/browse_photos