Beautiful Sunday - ALONG THE COASTLINE ... LAST SUMMER ...
This Sunday I decided to resurrect through photography some sunny memories from the last summer.
(Enlargeable)
And I'll start with a typical coastal scene. Some Cormorants, some rocks and the sea ... all of them quietly basking in the sun.
Here is a better, more up close, view at one of those birds. The Cormorants are usually my closest neighbors. I spend the majority of my summer days on the less accessible parts of the coastline with sharp rocks, because these places are great for snorkeling and I like desolate atmospheres with not many people around when I'm near the sea. Everything looks more majestic that way ... and is easier to be concentrated on what's going on in the surrounding nature.
Here you can take a short relaxing look at the changing texture of the sea...
... and another Cormorant passing by.
Many interesting plants are growing on and between these rocks.
And many interesting insects can be found in these little gardens. This is one of the most common moths in this area, but I don't know the exact species. I see them feeding during the day from time to time, and more often at dusk and during the night.
This colorful Caterpillar ...
... of the inchworm type ...
... is another interesting animal ...
... that I couldn't identify through the Internet search.
She is feeding on tiny flowers of the Crithmum maritimum plant.
He, he ... I found at least the name of the plant.
Here you can see the Caterpillar holding part of the flower, like the squirrel holds the nut or acorn, ad example.
I found the name of this plant ... but unfortunately ...
... the interesting coastal plant ...
... that produces these amazing little flowers ...
... is still a mystery to me.
Their color varies a bit ...
... even on the same twig ...
... and they look like some small animals from some angles ... something out of the Muppet Show or Sesame Street.
The buds also look pretty cool ... like some alien pods ...
... or some similar SF stuff.
These are the minuscule flowers of the Limonium cancellatum, an endemic plant of the Eastern Adriatic.
And here is the young, brown version of the common European mantis, photographed on this plant.
Sometimes, during the surreally hot and quiet summer day around the noon, while laying on the rocks after a bit of refreshing snorkeling through the shallows, you can hear a loud buzz coming from somewhere in between the small limestone mountains all around you.
And if you're lucky, you can observe the interesting Ammophila sabulosa sand wasp working on her den, using a small dried out part of some coastal plant. These wasp hunts and paralyze caterpillars, which are used as food storage for the larvae.
Witness and photograph interesting animal behavior like this is, for me, the most exciting part of the summer ramblings along the shore.
There is always some driftwood and pieces of wooden garbage present in these inlets. Here you can see a Wall lizard species resting on one of these wood pieces brought by the sea. This is the male, displaying the vivid colors during the mating season.
On this photograph, you can take a look at what seems like some mysterious artwork on a piece of driftwood.
These are the marks of the bark beetles. The tunnels are spreading radially from one central chamber ...
... and is interesting to notice this spiral one, very different from all the others. I don't know enough about these beetles to give you an explanation of this phenomenon.
Sometimes I rescue interesting species from the sea ...
... like this Big-eyed bug ...
... that is drying its wings on my finger. I saw this species of Big-eyed bug for the first time that day.
And here is another very peculiar insect that I saw for the first time on that occasion. And it wasn't only the first ... but the only time, actually. Looks like some froghopper species ... or relative ... but very strange ... and is mimicking jumping spiders in its postures and movements. It's very small and I hadn't the macro lens with me so the photograph is far from a good quality ... but you can see how interesting this little creature is.
Here is a very different and much bigger insect.
The Convolvulus hawk-moth (Agrius convolvuli) ... resting, camouflaged on the rocks. He'll be active later at dusk and during the short summer night.
This big, exuberant yellow flower ...
... is the most decorative part of the Glaucium flavum plant ... the Yellow horned poppy ...
... called also the Sea-poppy here in the area ... a spectacular plant in my opinion...
(Enlargeable)... able to attract many small bees ...
... and big fat bumblebees.
There is always something cool to observe and photograph ...
... while feeding ...
... or flying around these beautiful flowers.
On this shot taken a bit further from the shore, you can see a small spider that hunts from ambush, without the web, on the thorny, blue Eryngium plant.
On the, also thorny, Scolymus hispanicus plant ... the flies are mating, sheltered by the thorns.
Another thorny plant ... and its lovely little flower ... but this time I'm not able to tell you the exact species.
An elegant and beautifully shaped leaf of some temporarily unidentified plant with no thorns ...
... and one of the many cricket species of this coastal habitat ... resting and hiding on the same plant.
A small flower on some other nearby plant and then ...
(Enlargeable)... finally another plant with an exact scientific name for a change ...
... Aristolochia lutea ...
... with interesting flowers. And now ...
... with one of the many small wasp species of this hot and dry summer habitat ...
... and a few shots ...
... of the sunset above the sea ... is time to end this sunny summer post ... as always in these photographic excursions on Steemit, all the photographs and video materials are my work ... THE END.
[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 44.806293 lat 14.000428 long d3scr)
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That caterpillar really stands out well.
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Nice summer photography.
It's all amazing, but the nesting wasp is in a class by itself.
There is some real action in that part of the post :)