Today I drove about forty kilometers north of my hometown, and I spent some time in one of the many meadows in the rural area around the small town called Svetvinchenat. I didn't take many photographs, but I do have some interesting details to show you.
In this opening shot, you can see a colorful beetle from the Chrysomelidae family that I have never seen before. This was the highlight of today's macro experience.
The hairy plant shown in this photograph is the Ajuga orientalis.
Here I came closer with the macro lens to show you all the details of the small hairy bud that will become a flower soon.
After having some fun portraiting these three plants of the same kind ...
... I passed by a bunch of yellow Potentilla heptaphylla flowers, and then ...
... I sat down near this orchid.
Anacamptis morio is the name of the species.
This was my first orchid encounter in 2023.
The flowers are still closed in this shot.
After ten to fifteen minutes with the orchids ...
... I walked to the edge of the meadow surrounded by a line of shrubs and trees. Here you can see a path that leads through that grove ...
... to another meadow.
I took only one shot there, on that neighboring meadow. In its foreground, you can see a bunch of southern daisies (Bellis sylvestris).
Some minutes later, back in the first meadow, I found the leaf beetle.
This is the Gonioctena fornicata. Adults overwinter in the ground and appear very early in the spring.
Both the adults and the larvae mainly feed on the tender leaves and stems of various herbaceous plants from the Fabaceae family. In the following photograph ...
... you can see a small Vicia lathyroides flower. Vicia lathyroides is a plant from the Fabaceae family.
After taking this portrait of the Cerastium brachypetalum plant, I was ready to go home.
The following links will take you to the sites with more information about the protagonists of this post. I found some stuff about them there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajuga_orientalis
https://hirc.botanic.hr/fcd/DetaljiFrame.aspx?IdVrste=7978
https://www.plantea.com.hr/mali-kacun/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellis_sylvestris
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonioctena_fornicata
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicia_lathyroides
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerastium_brachypetalum
AND THAT'S IT. HAVE A GREAT DAY, OR NIGHT, WHEREVER ON THE PLANET YOU ARE. I DIDN'T HAVE MUCH TIME TO EXPLORE THE MEADOW TODAY, SO THE POST IS PRETTY SHORT. HOPE YOU ENJOYED THAT LITLLE YOU SAW HERE. AS ALWAYS ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK.