SELF SEEDING FIGS FOR BREAKFAST - part 1

It's a fresh and humid early morning ... in the first week of September ...

... and these ants are enjoying the seasonal abundance ...

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... just like this wasp ...

... this fly ...

... and me.

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We are all on the stony hill with a nice view at the sea ...

... and in a couple of hours the atmosphere will get hot and dry.

I'm regularly rambling around this area since my childhood, but only about 5 or 6 years ago I discovered that some of the self seeding fig trees on this stony hill surrounded by dense thorny vegetation and pretty hard to reach, have delicious juicy fruits just like the cultivated ones.

So, often in this period, I come here in the morning, when the figs are fresh and enjoy my extremely sweet breakfast ...

... and a bit of photographic exploration too.

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There is always a possibility of finding something interesting on these large leafs ...

... like this small hairy beetle, the Lagria hirta ... that feeds on nectar and pollen ... and hides on the lower surfaces of the leaves when is time to rest.

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There is a lot to see on the stony terrain underneath the trees as well. Many grasshoppers are jumping around ...

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... and small Podarcis sicula are sunbathing ...

... or hunting ... this one has just caught some insect, probably a beetle, but is hard to tell because the attack was fast, the moment short and elusive ... and at the end, all I have to show is this shot, on which is clear that the lizard is swallowing something ... but what ... who knows. This is an adult lizard ... while on the following photographs ...

... you can see a much smaller juvenile.

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They are very shy and vigilant, and therefore much harder to photograph than the adults which often come close to the photographer to see what's that large alien creature on their territory.

The figs and pines are often growing together, sometimes almost intertwined, creating small green islands ...

... providing the shelter for many interesting species. This grasshopper on the fig leaf is the green nymph of the Anacridium aegyptium. When young, they can be also brown.

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This is just a short look at the young cones of the pine tree that grows beside the fig.

In one place on this windy plateau, the pines are forming some kind of small wood, with one large, old tree sheltering some younger ones and it looks that this island is slowly spreading.

The pines that grow with no shelter of taller trees, in windy spots, are always small and curved.

There is an interesting community of herbaceous plant in the open spaces between the trees ... and here ...

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... you can often encounter this interesting spider ... the Argiope lobata.

It's a pretty large spider, related to the very common and widespread wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi)

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They build large and pretty resilient orbs ... and this one has caught something recently ... something densely enveloped in white silk, and therefore unidentifiable.

In some places ... the Clematis vitalba plant is climbing along shrubs and trees ...

... while in others ... the same plant is covering the rocks and some smaller plants.

In this period Clematis vitalba is producing the fruits ...

... a large quantity of fruits ...

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... with fluffy, feather - like appendages.

It's a very cute seasonal decoration.

This Batozonellus lacertida wasp is patrolling the area ... in search for large spiders to provide the food for its larvae ... the Argiope lobata could easily become the wasp's wictim.

You can see two figs on this photograph. The fruit on the left has ripened recently and is ready to be eaten ... the one in the right looks withered and not so palatable ... but ... this one is even sweeter and better ... when figs get dry on the tree, if there's no rain at the end of summer and if animals don't make holes in them, they taste a bit like dried figs you can buy in the stores but are juicier and extremely delicious ... although they do look like something slightly rotten.

These half dried delicacy is pretty rare here ... because most of the fruits get attacked by something ... sooner or later ... usually sooner.

The Red admirals (Vanessa atalanta) are feeding mostly on figs in this period ... and in this place.

The males are flying around the trees and protecting their territories.

It looks that this one has many fights behind him.

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The Southern white admirals (Limenitis reducta) are also here to gather nutrients from the fruits.

This small butterfly ... one of quite a fey small blue butterfly species present in the area ...

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... is resting under the tree ... on some dry, dandelion - like plant.

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I don't know the exact species ... of the butterfly ... nor of the plant.

... Not far from there, on the rocks ... I found also this Bush - cricket ...
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... and then another one of the same kind ... both in a pretty unusual pose, with elevated abdomen and saber - like egg laying organ.

Here you can see some fly resting on the dry Chicory stem not far from there ...

... here is another wider look at the setting ... and with the following photograph ...

... and some different fly ... we are back on the fig tree.

This Horse-fly has pretty impresive eyes.

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It's a cool looking fly ... so I took a few more shots ...

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... from different angles. On the following photograph ...

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... you can see the Black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) ...

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... and here ... is another unidentified fly ... I found quite a few similar looking species through my search … so I can't tell you which one exactly is this.

And now ...

... back to the ants ...

... the same crowd you already saw in the opening shot.

In the part 2 and 3 of this mini - series, you'll encounter some of the same character from this post ...

... in different shots, compositions and situations ...

... along with some fresh new species.

As always in these posts on HIVE, the photograph are my work ... I mean all except the one with me on it, that one was taken by a friend.

That's it - THE END.