There is a plant on the rocky meadows near the sea, large and peculiar, outgrowing all the surrounding vegetation.
And sheltering an interesting variety of small creatures.
From flies ...
... to spiders ...
... always filled with cool surprises.
I took a first look at this intricate little forest made of meaty folded leaves and a multitude of hard thorns, 20 or so, days ago in episode number 4, appropriately named sheltering thorns :D. Although this can be a standalone episode, I think is more interesting after seeing episode 4, to see how many new creatures have inhabited the place and how some old ones have disappeared after completing their cycle or moved to other habitats with changes that more warm and dry conditions have brought. So here is the link to that episode :
https://steemit.com/photography/@borjan/springtime-adventures-episode-4-sheltering-thorns
And with that little digression out of the way ... let's continue ...
Early in the morning, I saw a big spider in a shelter made of beautiful silky curtains ...
... and watched the simple magic of changing light with the sun getting up
Then, on the far side of the plant, in the shade, deeper in the thorny structure, I saw a bigger, similarly looking spider ...
... but soon discovered that these are two spiders, sharing the same tent.
One of them went out and slowly walked even deeper towards the dark center of the universe...
... and I never saw him again.
Soon after, I saw another silky refuge ... a very different one...
... and the creature who made it ...
... this little caterpillar ...
... she made a pretty cool construction ...
covering with a silky roof the borders of the folded leaf.
Young crickets were there in big numbers ... some in light ...
... some in the shadow ...
... and in some cases, they were standing next to each other in a pretty peculiar way ... so I was able to take this cool shot ...
There was much less humidity than 20 days before, so I saw only a few snails ...
... and not many droplets ...
... but those which were there ...
... were very beautiful. And now ...
... I think is time to take a little break from these creepy little things deep in the shade ...
... and take a good look at the bigger picture ...
... to have a clear idea of the setting ...
... and with that done ... back to the small ...
... things like this ...
... I saw it for the first time ...
... must be some kind of larvae ...
... but I don't know what is exactly this ...
... so I temporarily defined it as '' a cool little thing ''
And then ... another silky shelter ...
... with some mystery inside ...
... and another cricket nymphae, of another species ...
... and then another one ...
... of the third kind ...
... then another intermezzo with the look from a distance ...
... and a grasshopper ...
... a bit more colorful than other things here ...
... hiding between the thorns ...
... and then this bug ...
... to bring a bit of red...
... another bug ...
... with more modest, mimetic colors ...
...yep ...
There were much more spiders this time around
These big ones...
... laying on the leaves ...
... and many small ones ...
... crawling around ...
... or waiting in ambush
... and ... do you remember the first spider species in the post? ... those two spiders in the shelter made of dense silk structure?
... later in the day, I had the opportunity to observe him better, there was more light ...
... the spider was on the upper leaves of the plant ...
... and now it's time for some more shots of the plant herself ...
... that thorny island in the sea of grass and other more delicate looking plants ...
... from some angles, some of the leaves look like dragons ... or some other sort of monsters, passing by ...
But let's go back to the little monsters ...
... like this one ...
... running around ...
... searching for snails ...
... his ideal pray ... this is 15 years old shot where you can see how it looks in action
And now a short look at the little fly who was one of the main characters in episode 4 :)
... and a very small beetle always ready for big jumps ...
... and some more pictures of the thorny leaves ...
... and the picture of spider and cricket on them ...
... and finally ... that's it for today :D Hope you don't feel lost in the thorns ... and you find this interesting ... have a good day...or night...wherever you are... :)
Yep :D
... uf ... this was long ...
:D I almost forgot this moth!
... and ... as always in these posts on Steemit ... all the photographs ... are my work ...
