The flower on the opening mugshot, photographed like after the arrest ...
... is just one of quite a few ...
... lovely blue flower arranged in a column ...
... on the Ajuga reptans plant ... and on the following photograph ...
... it's a wider view on that parchment of the meadow, near the small path that leads to the sea.
This Large White butterfly (Pieris brassicae) stopped for a moment to take some nectar on the Hypochaeris maculata flower nearby ...
... while the butterfly was slightly rotating on the flower, I was carefully circling around the scene, and here you can see how the changing direction of the ambient light hid and showed various aspects of the butterfly wings ... it's a three - shot journey from the veins and texture to the translucency that reveals some details on the hidden surface of the wings.
A few steps further, on the long blade of grass, I photographed this interesting Mecopteran insect ... the Panorpa communis scorpionfly.
The common European honey bees were buzzing around ...
... and I caught one of them on these shots.
This complex and elegant flower - tower ...
... was photographed on the Leopoldia comosa plant ...
... the buds are still closed and the plant will look differently some days from now ... today I haven't found a plant with opened, completely developed flowers ... but ...
... in another area, about a hundred meters from there ...
... I photographed a Leopoldia comosa plant that has already passed through that blooming phase ...
... and has produced the little fruits.
Some minutes later, on the big Carduus nutans thistle, I noticed this well camouflaged thing, that looked like some kind of limpet ...
... only when it moved I could see the antennae and a glimpse of the insect's legs ...
... this is the Cassida viridis, commonly known as the green tortoise beetle.
Here on the green surface, stuck to the thorny plant, Cassida viridis can feel pretty safe ...
... but when flying low from plant to plant, it can easily get caught in the sticky spider traps ... in this situation the peculiar protective anatomy can't help the beetle. Here you can see the Agalenatea redii spider feeding on the green tortoise beetle. While hanging on the web, with the sky as a background the spider is clearly visible ... but ...
... these spiders have a great camouflage on the dried out vegetation. Here you can (barely!) see another Agalenatea redii while resting on some desiccated plant. If you meticulously compare the spiders on these two shots, you’ll notice that they have a slightly different design, different abdominal markings ... that's quite common in this species.
I photographed this scene on another Carduus nutans plant, on inner leaves surrounded by many larger, more robust, thorny leaves of the outer circle, and getting close enough was a painful process. The Oxyopes heterophthalmus spider has just caught some caterpillar. After taking this shot, using only the ambient light ...
... I took another with the flash on ... on this photograph you can take a better look at the details ... although the overall atmosphere is better conveyed through the previous shot.
Not far from there, I noticed a minuscule amber - colored beetle on the leaf of grass ...
... and here I can't tell you the name of the species. I never noticed this beetle before ... nor I found anything about it on the Internet while preparing this post.
After the minuscule beetle, I photographed a minuscule flower ...
... of the Lysimachia arvensis plant. I'm always amazed by the elegance of these wild floral miniatures.
On another small flower, the Geranium molle ...
... I photographed this fly from the Empididae family ... here you can see a glimpse of its long, needle - like proboscis ... and on the following shot ...
... taken when the fly started to clean its mouth after the feeding, you can take a considerably better look at that interesting feeding apparatus.
A few steps further I found a small jumping spider ...
... that was signaling by moving its pedipalps, while running up and down the stem of a daisy flower ...
... after this shot that portrays the spider in a ready - to - jump position ...
... he jumped on another flower ... that has lost all its petals ...
... and continued with the pedipalp communication.
After some minutes the spider was ready to jump again.
This time he landed on the petals of another daisy flower ... and looked extremely cute with those big eyes and a funny haircut.
I don't know the exact name of the species ... quite a few similar looking Salticidae are present in the area, and not all of them are listed with the photograph on the Internet.
The Psilothrix viridicoerulea beetle was resting in the center of the Hieracium sabaudum flower ...
... this Malachius bipustulatus beetle was photographed on the still closed bud that will soon be a yellow Ranunculus bulbosus flower ...
... and on another, slightly more opened Ranunculus bulbosus bud, I found another Psilothrix viridicoerulea.
This Mediterranean spotted chafer (Oxythyrea funesta) was enjoying the pollen in the center of a completely developed and opened yellow flower of the Ranunculus bulbosus plant.
A bit later, the Meliscaeva auricollis hoverfly landed on another flower of the same kind.
Before returning home, I photographed this small nymph of the Apolygus lucorum bug ...
... this green little insect looked great in the center of the yellow flower ... the shadow and sunlight were playing around the scene while the gentle breeze was moving the flower and the surrounding vegetation ...
... and that's it ... after this shot I was on my way home.
As always in these posts on HIVE, the photographs are my work ... and as always in this NEWS FROM THE MEADOWS series, they were all taken today ... ups :) I mean, almost all this time, the shot with the Agalenatea redii spider feeding on the green tortoise beetle was taken last week ... but I just had to put it in the post, because it worked great with the rest.