THORNS AND FLOWERS BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD

It was a nice, warm afternoon in mid-July this year. I stopped my car by the side of an unpaved road in the area near the village of Valtura, about six or seven kilometers from where I live.

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In the spot I chose, there was a tall, dense hedge made predominantly of two plants: the Paliurus spina-christi and the Rosa sempervirens.

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In this wide shot, a small stretch of the road is visible behind the lush growth of Paliurus spina-christi.

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Here, I used the macro lens to show you an ant feeding on the nectar of the tiny Paliurus spina-christi flowers. The ant in the picture is a Camponotus aethiops worker.

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This, much bigger flower, belongs to the Rosa sempervirens shrub.

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Rosa sempervirens is one of the several wild roses that grow in my area.

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In these two macro shots, you can see the Cryptocephalus bipunctatus, a beetle from the Chrysomelidae family, on a Rosa sempervirens flower that is losing its shriveled petals.

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This is yet another wide shot that shows the Paliurus spina-christi in bloom, while in the following photograph ...

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... you can see a spider that has built a web among the thorny twigs of that plant. It's a spider from the Araneidae family. The scientific name of the species is Araneus angulatus.

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With many flowers around, and with some of them falling for various reasons, it isn't unusual to see a scene like the one shown in this photograph.

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A flower caught in a spider web means a great opportunity for an interesting shot against the uniformly dark background, but ...

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... but for the spider, that's only an annoyance.

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In these two shots, you can see the same Araneus angulatus removing the flower. In the following photograph ...

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... the spider is busy with an entire floral arrangement.

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It seems that just one small flower bud isn't annoying enough to trigger a reaction.

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This photograph shows the spider working around a fully developed flower.

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Here you can see a shriveled, fallen flower that, on its way down to the ground, got attached to one of the leaves of the shrub.

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These two shots show a dried-out flower caught in a spider web.

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Paliurus spina-christi produces tons of flowers in late spring and summer. That seasonal abundance regularly attracts many pollinators. If you take a good look at the details in the center of the above picture, you'll see a bee flying among the thorny branches in bloom.

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Here you can see a bee collecting the nectar.

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Many bees can be seen buzzing around these nectar-rich flowers.

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Some of them eventually get caught in the webs. In these four photographs, after many unedible flowers, Araneus angulatus has finally scored a meal.

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This is the Cetonia aurata, a beautiful, iridescent beetle from the Scarabaeidae family.

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Cetonia aurata was there for the flowers. These beetles feed mainly on pollen and nectar, but they also occasionally chew the petals and other soft parts of various flowers.

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This is the Lucilia sericata, a fly from the Calliphoridae family.

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The combination of vivid red eyes and green, metallic shine similar to that of the Cetonia aurata beetle makes the appearance of these very common and often annoying flies surprisingly decorative. An adult Lucilia sericata feeds on nectar, pollen, feces, and various decaying organic matter. Carrions are also on its menu.

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This bee mimicking fly belongs to the Syrphidae family. The scientific name of the species is Syrphus ribesii. Adults feed exclusively on nectar and pollen.

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These four non-macro photographs show a nice mix of Paliurus spina-christi and Rosa sempervirens flowers.

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Here you can see a longhorn beetle on a Rosa sempervirens flower.

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I can't tell you what species specifically this is. It looks like something from the genus Stenurella. The family is Cerambycidae, of course.

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Here you can see a nice portrait of a Rosa sempervirens flower surrounded by Paliurus spina-christi stuff.

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This beetle belongs to the Cantharidae family.

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Here you can see two of those beetles mating.

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The scientific name of the species is Rhagonycha fulva. To continue the post in the lovely orange tone presented in the last four photographs ...

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... I decided to show you these insect eggs I found on a Paliurus spina-christi leaf.

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Several lady beetles (Coccinellidae family) and leaf beetles (Chrysomelidae family) produce eggs that look like (or almost like) the ones shown in these photographs, so I can't tell you whose eggs these are.

Here you can see yet another non-macro composition that showcases a lovely, natural floral arrangement made of two types of wildflowers, which play a central role in today's post.

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Here you can see a Camponotus aethiops ant feeding on nectar. I introduced this species at the beginning of the post. The following photograph ...

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... shows the same ant from a slightly different angle.

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There isn't much to say about this photograph - just another showcase of the interesting texture created by the lush vegetation by the side of the road.

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