SPRINGTIME EVENING ON THE MEADOW

The photographs in this post were taken on the 2nd of June 2021 ...

... in the evening.

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This crab spider, the Runcinia grammica, was resting on the leaf of the blackberry shrub that grew along the country lane.

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The common green lacewing, Chrysoperla carnea was flying above the meadow. I had the opportunity to take a couple of shots when the fairy-like insect landed on the ear of the grass. The grass in question is the Hordeum murinum, commonly known as the wall barley.

At one point, the lacewing expelled a minuscule droplet from its mouth.

On the stem of grass not far from there, I found this empty pupa of some small moth. Don't know what kind of moth exactly came out of this black thing because quite a few species have pupa that looks like this or is very similar.

This minuscule rove beetle, Oxytelus piceus, was photographed on the top of the same grass, the Festuca rubra. In the following photograph ...

... you can take a look at another kind of grass, the Bromopsis erecta in bloom.

This bee, the Nomada lathburiana, a species that looks a lot like a wasp was sleeping on the ear of the Avena fatua grass. When it comes time to take a long nighttime rest, the bee bites the ear of the grass and gets securely attached to the plant.

This Chorthippus grasshopper has found shelter among the thorns of the Eryngium campestre plant. Chorthippus it's a large genus of grasshoppers from the Acrididae family. Quite a few very similar species are present in this area, so I can't tell you which one exactly is this.

After some more walking, as the sun was going down, I came across an intricate mix of herbaceous plants. Two of them were in bloom, so I got focused on their small but very interestingly shaped flowers.

Here you can see the flower of the Scrophularia canina plant.

Here you can take a look at the same kind of flower but from a different angle that reveals different details.

The young and very small Neoscona adianta spider has built a silky shelter near the flower.

This photograph was taken with a flash, so you can see more details and colors in the scene.

Here you can see the same scene from another angle.

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The same plant had also plenty of minuscule fruits, and some flowers were ready to fall, or have already fallen. This one got caught by silk produced by the spider and was twirling, propelled by the gentle evening breeze.

This Scrophularia canina flower was photographed against the beautiful purple background. The background color was created by blurred flowers of another plant ...

... the Vicia benghalensis.

The Cheiracanthium pelasgicum sack spider has built a shelter among the flowers.

At one point the spider got annoyed by the camera and entered the silky sack ...

... but, when I patiently took a long exposure shot using only the subdued ambient light, he was still visible.

Here you can see the Centrotus cornutus treehopper. This insect was hidden in the intricate growth of the Scrophularia canina plant.

And that's it. Soon it became too dark to explore these small details, so I walked to my car and drove back home. Hope you enjoyed these fragments of springtime 2021. As always in these posts on HIVE, the photographs are my work - THE END.