Trying To Keep Up!

And suddenly, they have all emerged back from their winter sleep. Adults are mating, youngsters are growing, females are laying eggs, it is all happening out there in the fields.

The photographs are 'piling' up on my hard drive, it looks as though I have already plenty to go through over the winter months and summer hasn't even arrived yet.

A beautifully sunny, warm and windstill Saturday was perfect for spending time in the naturally kept meadows nearby. I was rewarded by seeing insects that I had never seen before ...

 .. such as this caterpillar. I could not take my eyes of it; those somewhat plastic-like white spots giving the whole creature a somewhat alien like look. One day it will be a  Aphelia paleana moth.

Difficult to miss: this beautiful and bright male Azure Damselfly. I could not get a good angle on it as it would have meant disturbing other insects nearby so I left it at this. Another insect I hadn't seen before, isn't it stunningly beautiful?

I am finding myself to have too many favourites ... I like them all! It took me a while to get used the the strangely proportioned Click Beetle but they are growing on me. The fields were filled with these chaps on Saturday.

 Another beetle that is 'new' for me: the Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle.

While I am observing these individual insects I learn to understand their body language. By that I mean I can tell what they may be up to next, or if they are angry / distressed (by my presence close up) or are they relaxing and soaking up the sunbeams or are they taking off. 

Here (above photograph) I really though I was about to see it take off. I waited ... and waited ... any second now ... but no! It decided I wasn't that frightening afterall and settled back down on the leaf. Perhaps next time.

A little further on I was witness to a crime: this Sawfly was devouring one of my models (a soldier beetle) and it was clearly enjoying every moment of it! I took a series of shots of this moment, what fascinated me the most was to the the sawfly's stringy, green neck. 

But there are vegetarians, too: this little weevil was munching away on this oak leaf, at a surprising speed, leaving a quite artistic curvey pattern.

This one was a new sighting for me and I am not yet sure what 'model' it is. It may belong to the jumping spider family, I am yet to find out. It is certainly small enough. The pattern on its back is quite remarkable, no?

And old friends return - Soldier Beetle. They have very expressive little faces, with their big, round eyes and are either very shy or very forward coming. Most of them are very happy posers. You'll see them everywhere in the meadows, flying (quite clumsily) from spot to spot, searching for a mate or food.

Of course I had to pay the Grasshopper nursery another visit and everytime I notice more skins and more tiny nymps. This one is of middle size. The wings will grow later. You can read more about the Grasshoppers here: 'The Grasshopper Nursery'

 A moth of some sort, will have to look it up when I have more time.

It caught my eye because it was taking up a position of great importance, somewhat posing like Royalty. It is a tiny insect and it was hard to see anything to focus on to get the picture sharp enough. But if you look at it (click the image for larger version), it is indeed a very handsome creature.

"Should I Call The Ambulance ..."

Much of my adventures are taking place in the grazing fields nearby. The stonewalls and hedges being an excellent spot for insect observation, as well as the little wooded areas in between. 

But recently, an object of great interest has been this:

 Next time you see one, spend some time observing them.

Hopefully, it will be a very busy pile of dung!

Therefore I spend a lot of time following the cows on the hunt for cowpads at different levels of 'freshness', as that attracts different insects.

I do have permission to access the fields and a official walk path leads through some of them.

Every year, the fields are occupied by calves. Being of a very inquisitive nature, they often come running up, wondering over my being there, in their 'patch'. 

Initially very shy, we slowly got to know each other. When they see me they do come up to say hello, hang around a bit and examine every piece of clothing with their sticky tongues.

There are always some 'cowards' at the back, pushing into the ones at the front as though to say "hey, go on ... check it out, what is she up to now?" How come it is mostly the ginger ones that are at the front when close up?

Oh hello again ...

Once they are satisfied and all is ok, they go about eating grass very nearby. At that point I too continue with what I was wanting to do: to photograph insects that help us keep the pastures clean, such as dung beetles. There is a separate page on this blog about the 'natural pasture cleaners' - see to the right.

With there being a walking path going through the fields, I do meet the occasional dog walker and we do have a little chat now and then. One such dog walking lady told me a quite amusing story the other morning:

She was, as usual, walking through the fields with her dog when she saw a human lying in the field, surrounded by cows. Worried that the cows may have attacked someone, she was considering ringing the ambulance, when she suddenly remembered speaking to me some days earlier. At that moment she realised it was me laying on the ground, surrounded by cows, taking photographs!

This story did  make me laugh! Admittedly I do land up in the strangest positions while wanting to get a better angle on things but I never even thought that someone might be worried about my safety.

Over the past weeks, their expressions have become much softer as they are getting used to me being in their field. 

Lovely creatures with soft, warm eyes.

 One of the subjects of interest: a dung beetle, going in!

Behind The Camera

First off: the camear is a Canon 450D EOS. Purchased 2nd hand 2 years ago. It has since been used mostly everyday from spring until autumn. A little less during winter when all the insects have gone to sleep or have lost their physical form.

As you can see, the camera is having a hard time joining me on my adventures and only too often does it make close contact with stones and brambles. Some of the programming buttons have fallen off but as I do all the settings manually all the time it doesn't matter as long as it still takes pictures and lets me zoom in.

Nothing in my photography is a set up. Its all spur of the moment snapshots, no tripods or flash. I don't think its very friendly to flash into an insects eyes, especially as I don't know how they function. All I know is that my eyes don't take well to being flashed at (in both cases! ;)  )

 

 And here we have little 'me' ... sometime in the 1970s. Clearly, I was meant to deal with animals ...

 ... such as this sweet little red squirrel, who doesn't seem frightened by the flashy 70s ski suit! Oh my!!

But my adventures haven't always been in the small big world. Having spent my childhood until early adulthood in Switzerland, my main 'stomping ground' were the mountains.  I have always had an inner urge for space, for views ... and so I spent most of my holidays with my grandparents in the mountians and later, as teenager, either hiking or skiing.

The above two photographs I took sometime in the mid 1980s from top of the 'Schwarzhorn' at 3146 meters above sea level.

Although I am not one for going back in time and I don't care much about the past, this one moment is deep inside my 'heart'. The summit was very narrow, perhaps giving room for as little as 5 people.

As I went up there early in the day with my grandparents in tow, I reach the top way before anyone else and was on my own up there. I was only a teenager then but I felt so free, so peaceful, so irrelevant, nothing in my head seemed to matter. This touched me so deeply that I didn't want to leave. I guess you can imagine why, looking at this utter beauty. To me, this was God ... if I had to describe it, right there, everywhere. I do still remember thinking that (and feeling sick when thinking about the depth of the universe!).

But mentioning views: it was one of the reasons I felt attracted to England ... the endless views!! So free!!

 

And in spring, all bursts into life, everything is green, lush, colourful and the air is filled with the scent of all the flowers, the buzzing of all the insects and the birds sing-song.

What else did I do ... well the list is endless. I do have a great admiration for music and have been, among many things, a music teacher for the best part of 5 years, but that is a long time ago.

Right now, I live everyday as it comes and wherever life leads me, there I shall go. :)

Meanwhile, I hope you do enjoy the adventures in a small but still very big world, from their perspective!

Thank you. 

A Snail With A Plan!

It was a quite dark and gloomy early morning and although I ventured outside with my morning cup of tea there wasn't much going on. Too cold for the insects, and too late for the slugs and snails it seems. I was about to go back inside to embrace the oncoming day when this snail caught my eye.

Initially I just watched it because I am impressed by how they move over and adapt to the most awkward terrain. 

It seems though that some snails are quite clever in making use of their surroundings ...

... this one was trying to get itself accross the gap between the two stones. This fascinates me because it is quite a feat, moving all that weight (the house) accross ...

Notice the disused spiderweb threads?  Well, it looks as though the snail is eyeing them up. Its not like the spider would eat a snail of this size. It seems to be planning something ...

 

It is still checking up on the spidersweb remains. Note how the house is slowly tipping down more and more ... 

... until it safely lands in the spiderweb remains! 

It looks that at this, point the slug was a little surprised ... 

... by the weight of its home which heavily slumps into the well included safety net!! 

"Urgh ... I think it's time to declutter!"

View from above. The snail made it safely to the other side thanks to the spider's web.

 All the while, the spiderweb was helping this snail carrying the weight of its house while it was manouvering itself into a more stable position. 

Smart!

You Don't Need To Go Far ...

... to observe nature's beauty and loose yourself.

Yet another late afternoon stoll, making my way towards the grasshopper nursery. It had been raining earlier but now the sun was out and it was lovely and warm.

Over time I have learnt not to go and 'look' for objects to photograph, but instead to just be aware and without thought so that I could see what is rather than look for what might be. And suddenly I have no end of subjects and objects to see and talk about. It's wonderful!

There were sparkles in the sunshine everywhere as the raindrops were 'trapping' the sun beams and reflecting back to us 'copies' of the sourroundings.

Depending on the surface, water drops seem to look different. On the more greasy (forgive the non-scientific description), they form lovely, round spheres, crystal clear ...

 ... while on 'hairy' surface, they seem to be more 'flat' or half-spheres.

 

There are two flields nearby which are not cut all year round. This is perfect for all kind of insects as well as ground nesting birds.  More and more insects are making an appearance and once again, its a case of 'pick a spot and wait'. :)

Above a click beetle. 

Compared to other beetles, this species is more 'bendy' as the section between the head and the thorax (the middle section) is flexible. This allows them to move their head and the first pair of legs separately to the rest of the body. They can snap these two sections, making a lound 'click' sound, hence the name and use this to flip onto their back .If it is a windstill day, you will be able to hear it as you approach them IF they are not happy with you.

Right next to the click beetle I noticed this crab spider having lunch / tea /dinner. It caught itself a tastly, tiny weevil. The little chaps is still twitching and trying to get away but eventually the spider gets its head between the fangs, and that was the end of that! Simple, pure, honest, based on need and not want. No drama ... just 'what is, is'.   That is why I am attracted to observing these beings again and again, even though sometimes I 'humanize' them if I am in a silly mood.

I was quite happy where I was in the field was also drawn to go to see the grasshopper nursery, so I made my way over. 

At the nursery I was rewarded by not only a much greater number of nymphs appearing but I also had the joy of observing this little chap slowly emerge from its skin. More photos and info here on a designated page on this blog.

 

But not only is it a grasshopper nursery! And here we have the Blue Bug Larvae. Yes, they are red, for now. But they will eventually turn into a metallic blue-ish shield bug.

There are all kinds of insects now, bugs, beetles, spiders, other 'hoppers', flies and even a few wrens nesting in the stonewall (the remains of it). All happily coming and going, regardless of my presence. As always, time doesn't exist and there is a great peace in all this.

Thank you for being with me :)

An Evening Stroll

 

I needed to get rid of the cobwebs in my mind and went for an evening stroll to the grasshopper nursery. Being outdoors immediately fills me with peace and everything begins to makes sense and falls into its place. 

Accompanied by a lot of bird sing-song wandered along the stone wall, checking for anything crawling or buzzing. I noticed that slowly, some of the 'old friends' are making a re-appearance:

The weevils! In various sizes and colours. Very inquisitve little guys. If they see me with the lens they meet it face on and follow it if I move slightly. They are great fun to watch and right now it is their mating season. 

These green ones are found mostly on nettles. They use their leaves for shelter and in the early mornings you can find many of them with their heads burries in the base of the nettle leaves! 'If I can't see it (predetors), it can't see me!'

 'Hello there!'

The dock beetle's mating season has begun a month ago, resulting in many a pregnant female looking for places to lay their eggs. Another month or so and the dock plants will have been eated away. Perfect!

 This slug was quite brave, being in the evening sun, on top of a stone wall ...

 Eventually I reached the grasshopper nursery where I spent some considerable time enjoying their coming and going. I even noticed some of their skins on blades of grass. You can read more about them here.

Thank you for reading!

It is getting busier out there

As we are slowly approaching summer more specimen are making a re-appearance. 

Although the weather hasn't been too great for photography due to the rain and wind. The rain on its own is fine and makes for lovely photography of waterdops and snails. 

Even as a child - many years back - I was very fond of snails and slugs. Their determination to overcome any obstacle in their way made quite an impression on me and I spent ours watching them and I still do so now when I can.  

Many people hate them but in my garden they are welcome. Of course, if in large numbers, they do wreak havok in our gardens, espcially in our vegetable patches.

There are a few ways of dealing with snails if their are not welcome, in a more or less natural manner.

And interesting observation I made is that I never had an issue with snails or slugs eating my crop. That I think is due to the fact that I am feeding the birds and so the garden has always feathered visitors that are only too keen on adding to their dinner table by catching snails and slugs. There are certainly plenty of empty shells on the ground. 

I have designated a separate page just for snails and slugs: Snails and Slugs - Friend or Foe?

But back to the weather:

The tricky part really is the wind, which of course moves all the grass and leaves and although I have a reasonably steady hand there are limits in my ability to sway with the wind and with the focus of the lense. 

Therefore most of the photographs from this past week were taken of life on or sheltering behind our stonewalls so commonly present in this area.

One example is this grasshopper nursery which is very busy now. I observed several different types of grasshopper nymphs, all at different stages, too. 

Who doesn't like listening to their relaxing chirping sound on a warm, later summer's evening? Last year in September I had the great pleasure of discovering on a large area of crumbled stonewall dozens of grasshoppers who gathered there in the early evening sun, mating. There was much rivalery and I did film some of it (but lost the footage!). 

And when I went to visit that same spot again about 3 weeks ago I discovered to my great amazement that it had turned into a grasshopper nursery! Some of the little chaps are so tiny, at most 5mm in length! Most of the time I spent being very careful not to step on any of them, so before approaching I would move the grass in front with a stick to announce my arrival. I then sat on one of the stones and waited ... but not for long and they all appeared!

This one couldn't have been any bigger than 5mm ... so small, yet everything is there, except for the wings, which are yet still growing.

This one here was wriggling for some time, trying to get rid of remains of its skin.

I have created a separate page for these chaps too and I will update it with new observations as and when I get time to visit the 'nursery'. 

 

The weevils have returned in large numbers and various colours ans sizes. You'll find the green variety now on most nettles, shimmering with their green-yellow-brown bodies in the sunlight.

 

The rover beetles seem quite busy too, and fairly feisty, bending their tails in anger at the camera lense!

 

And then we have the very lethargic St. Mark's Fly - Here the female of the species. They have wings but don't seem very interested in using them and if they do it is almost like watching something in slow motion, and they are silent when in the air.

Taking about buzzing noises: the longer I observe the bees, wasps, bumblebees and flies, the more I notice that my hearing seems to recognise the difference in sounds they make and very rarely can I actually guess what species it is just by the sound.  

 

It's been a cold day with a chilly breeze, which in turn is useful because it slows the bees down a little. They need a certain body temparature before they can take off. 

 And the first sawflies are out ... so far I have only seen the black variety ... here is hoping for more.