A month ago, while I was driving home from the city like many times before, I took the longer route, along the country lane that passes through quite a few villages before reaching my hometown ...
... and four time on that ordinary drive, I felt inspired to stop and take a photograph or two. First time, it was when I noticed these cows not far from the road, in between the city of Pula and the village called Shishan. I often see this group of cows while driving, but usually in the distance, near the small farm. This time the cows were closer to the camera, so I had to stop.
When I reached Shishan, the village mentioned before, I stopped to see how it looks on the sunny summer afternoon. I parked in the center, photographed the square in front of me ...
... the church behind me ... and drove away.
About five minutes later, I passed through the village called Liznjan, and when I reached the port - I stopped again. Boats of various shapes and sizes were floating in the bay, as the evening was approaching slowly.
I took two shots ... and then sat in my car to continue the journey.
I drew along the coast, along the unpaved dusty road bordered with fields and meadows, and stopped about three kilometers from the port. Some bird of prey was flying low above the meadows. First, I took this photograph with clouds in the background ... and then ...
... another shot with the same bird and the distant mountains.
I walked through the tall grass ...
... and found some small insect, so I mounted the macro lens to take a better look and try to identify the species.
It was some bug from the Lygaeidae family.
Only today, while preparing this post, I found out that this is the young wingless nymph of the Raglius alboacuminatus ground bug. Bugs from this family are commonly known as ground bugs.
I don't remember noticing this species before.
A bit further ...
... I came across a well hidden group of Eryngium ametistum plants.
Some wild, solitary bee was resting there.
When I raised my head and took a look at the sky, I saw some parachute thing with two persons attached. It looked like a colorful jellyfish at first sight.
At one point, birds entered the picture.
... and soon the flying tourists were surrounded by seagulls.
I took one more shot and walked, back through the grass, to the dusty road.
There, by the road ...
... I noticed the Foeniculum vulgare plants ...
... a pretty tall group of these aromatic plants.
Foeniculum vulgare, native to the Mediterranean coasts, but naturalized in many other places worldwide, it's commonly known as Fennel, a very tasty vegetable. Just like humans, these caterpillars also like to chew the aromatic stuff.
They look like larvae of some moth species, but I'm not completely sure about that. I can't tell you what kind of adult insects will they end up to be after the metamorphosis.
These caterpillars build loose, silky shelters around the inflorescence of the plant where they feed.
On the lower part of one of the branches, I found this little pot made of mud, a work of some potter wasp.
It looks that the wasps already developed from the larvae and left the place, and now some other creature, maybe a spider, is using the thing as a free, well-built shelter. The entrance, that was sealed with dry mud while the wasp larvae were developing, is now covered with a veil of silk.
As I was standing on the road ...
... and the sun was setting behind me, passing through thin veils of clouds ...
... the light was changing fast ...
... and at moments the landscape was almost unrecognizable. This dry place looked like some humid valley, the road became a river surrounded by marshes.
The sun soon disappeared behind the horizon ...
... but I continued shooting ...
... the dense, intricate vegetation ...
... the dry grass and various green plants covered with flowers.
On this large, thorny Scolymus hispanicus thistle ...
... I caught another wild bee. This one was covered with golden pollen, and it looked kinda cute. And that's it. After taking this photograph, I drove directly home.
As always in these posts on HIVE, the photographs are my work.