NEWS FROM THE MEADOWS - 14. June 2021
The days are uniformly hot here on the coast, the classic summer atmosphere is now firmly established ...
... some grasses have produced the seeds, and now are on the way to dry out completely.
This is some grass from the genus Phalaris ... probably the Phalaris aquatica ... and at this stage of its life cycle ...
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... when the grains are developed, but still soft ... it attracts a multitude of seed-eaters that are rarely seen out in the open.
There are many similar, almost identical looking species in the genus Harpalus of the Carabidae (ground beetles) family, so I can't tell you the exact name of this Harpalus ... but I can tell you that these ground beetles usually spend the daytime hours on the ground, invisible in the intricate mess of dense vegetation or under the rocks and come out at night to feed on various seeds ... but sometimes, very rarely, I see them climbing high to the top of the grass in the evening, when the sun is low in the sky, but there is still more than enough light to take plenty of photographs ...
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... so I took quite a few shots of this unexpected feeding frenzy.
This small bug from the Lygaeidae family, the Nysius graminicola, was also enjoying the soft, juicy grains.
These bugs were also present in big nubers on this particular kind of grass ...
... and many of them were mating.
While this pair was busy with the reproductive activities ...
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... the young nymph of some bush - cricket species was chewing the seeds with great delight.
This lovely Coscinia striata moth was only resting here ...
... waiting for the dusk. This is the male, female don't have the distinctive dark lines on their forewings.
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Some shorter grasses, like the Briza maxima, were growing underneath the tall Phalaris grass ... and there I photographed a very small nymph of another bush - cricket species. I can relatively easily find the adult crickets through the internet search, but many species aren't represented on photographs in their nymph phase, so I wasn't able to find out names of the species in this post.
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The Elymus repens grass was still green in some places. I photographed this mating pair of Eurygaster testudinaria shield bugs in one of those places.
A bit further, where the same kind of grass was getting dry and brown ... I found a well camouflaged Camptopus lateralis, a bug from the Alydidae family.
Nearby, on the ear of Hordeum murinum grass, the Rhagonycha fulva soldier beetle was resting.
There was a multitude of colorful flowers among all these grasses ...
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... the Silene gallica ...
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... Trifolium glomeratum ...
... on the large, composite flower of the wild carrot (Daucus carota), I photographed this mating pair of Rhagonycha fulva beetles ...
... under the nearby flowers of the same kind ...
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... the Synema globosum crab spider has caught some small fly.
The Ceraleptus lividus bug from the Coreidae family ...
... was resting on a partially closed, not completely developed wild carrot flower.
I found this female spider ...
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... of the species Philodromus dispar, from the running crab spider (Philodromidae) family ...
... on the yellow Coronilla valentina flowers.
In the nearby flower of the Silene latifolia plant ...
... the small spider has built a nice silky shelter.
Cheiracanthium virescens is the name of this sac spider species.
The showy purple flowers ...
... of the musk thistle (Carduus nutans) ...
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... tall and robust biennial plant that towers above all the grasses and other herbaceous plants on the meadow and inside this post ...
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... were covered with many minuscule dark dots ...
... always in motion.
When I came closer, and took a good look through the macro lens ...
... I recognized the Brassicogethes aeneus pollen beetles.
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While most of these big, beautiful flowers were fresh and in their prime ...
... I found also a couple of less colorful flowers that are close to producing the seeds. On one of those, I photographed this Phalangium opilio harvestman.
After exploring and photographing the thistles about half an hour or so ...
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... I decided to take a closer look at the intricate vegetation under these tall plants.
This interestingly shaped thing, it's a small fruit of the Geranium dissectum plant ...
... commonly known as the Cut-leaved Crane's-bill.
On the leaf of some grass ...
... I photographed some minuscule fly from the Lonchopteridae family - the Lonchoptera bifurcata ...
... and on the leaf of the white clover (Trifolium repen), I photographed this click - beetle ... the Athous bicolor.
Some black weevil, I don't know the exact species, was feeding on the Malva sylvestris flowers ...
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... and before returning home ...
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... I found and photographed also this colorful Lixus angustus weevil.
As always in these posts on HIVE, the photographs are my work ... and they were all taken in the last couple of days.
From enchanting beauty of nature that evoke visions of lush meadows full of brilliantly-colored flowers or dense forests to the intricate vegetation, and the inhabitants ... It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit
The Camptopus lateralis was stunning! Is Harvestman another name for the insect I know as Daddy-long-legs? The seed pods of the Cut-leaved Crane's-bill are very cool!
Yes :) that's just another name for the Daddy-long-legs.
Cool! Neat name....
Insects were cool. Amazing shots.
Exceptional photos! Such colourful wild flowers with busy insects. Life there is so calm and peaceful there!
Here! Things are getting crazy and the situation will get worse after they gave 2 million people the vaxx. Life is getting tough for me as friends couldn’t understand what’s really going on.
Love to see some blue sea too!
Great photos. I guess I'm a pervert, if I remember only a photo of beetles on a wild radish. This couple photo is absolutely amazing.
:) It's cool to see insects in action, the mating and all those reproductive activities are like hunting or feeding, or building a nest ... it's some kind of action and is more interesting than just an insect posing in front of the camera and doing nothing ... I perceive it like that, :) something like that.