A taste of Summer & Cow Pads

With the hot sunshine, all the buzzes and crawls was out and about.

Slowly but surely, the variety of insects present is increasing. I did not have a lot of time to take photographs today but managed to take a few snapshots near the house.

House fly (possibly Phaonia subventa) enjoying honesty flower.

Tiny mining bees are present in large numbers ... 

... and are very busy. Sometimes its hard to see them when they are all covered in pollen, burying themselves deep inside the dandelions.

And of course the dock beetles ... I went to visit one of my favourite corners in one of the nearby grazing fields; was very busy and the dock plants were covered with these little green (and sometimes also red-ish) jewelles were glistening in the sunlight.

These little beetles are always entertaining (I have created a separate page on this blogs just for these little guys). They don't mind my presence at all. I wonder if they perhaps have bad eyesight? Most other beetles make a run for it when the camera lens appears closeup.

And then ... there are the cow pads!

The calves are back in the neighbouring grazing fields and with that returns a fantastic object for observation: the cow pad.  

Previously the only time I would give any notice to a caw pad was when I stood into one by accident. However, today I noticed a strange assembly of flies in one of these pads so I went to investigate ...

... and I found these house flies all huddled together. I watched them for a while trying to work out what they were doing. My guess is that the top 2 flies were protecting the rest while they were laying  their eggs. 

.

... and here we have the little chap, the dung beetle. They are an important part of our grazing pastures and help keep the grazing fields clean.

However, these helpful little beetles are in decline worldwide, partly due to overuse of wormer and other pesticides as well as changes in pasture management.

There I was, on my knees and elbows, studying a cow pad. And duly, it was full with holes and different species of dung beetles were busy coming out of one whole, only to quickly disappear down another. It was a very busy cow pad!

And it also seemed a great spot for mating ... covered in bright yellow-orange dung flies all busily mating. It seems a short affair for them and they hop on and off a female within seconds, just to go and visit another ... its all very matter of fact with these flies.

I prefer the spiders's way ... where the male brings gifts so that he might not get eaten ... I say 'might'  ... 

 One of the countless of dungflies ... 

A special mention to the providers of my recent object of study: the calves. 

'Hello ... what are you doing down there?'

They are very inquisitive and this can be a little tricky when I am hunched over some bug on a stone because they like to come up really close. I am sure many of you readers have had the experience of a sticky cow tongue investigating your clothes or bare arms ... 

I am sure over the next few days we will get used to each other. :)