Wildlife mid 2009

[ranunculus]

Well folks - we are back from a magnificent week on the Turquoise Coast of Western Turkey and I will begin a series of postings with images of some of the wildlife we spotted during our sunny days in Olu Deniz.


BUTTERFLY
BUTTERFLY
DUNG BEETLES - TINY SPECIES
GRASSHOPPER
GRASSHOPPER
GRASSHOPPER
INSECT
TORTOISE
TORTOISE
TURTLE

[Maggi Young]

I have always loved tortoises and turtles are charming..... but those other critters have too many legs for my liking.....I feel strangely itchy 

[ranunculus]

Second batch from Olu Deniz on the coast of Turkey ...

GRASSHOPPER
GRASSHOPPER
GRASSHOPPER
INSECT
INSECT
SWALLOW
SWALLOW
SWALLOW - ON ELECTRICAL WIRES ABOVE SUPERMARKET ESCALATOR (UP & DOWN THREE TIMES TO CAPTURE IMAGE)  

[Maggi Young]

A whole new meaning to "bird on a wire", Cliff 
The detail visible in your bug shots is horribly fascinating 

[Lesley Cox]

Superb photos though Maggi. I love the little tortoises.

[Ragged Robin]

Great CU photos of the insect life, Cliff, the grass hopper is very handsome especially against the purple - Imagine the noise must have been quite something!  Love the turtle treading water...altogether it looks hot 

[Paddy Tobin]

Interesting creatures, Cliff.

Paddy

[Anthony Darby]

Great shots Cliff. The butterfly looks like a small skipper (Thymelicus flavus) but could be a similar species? The grasshopper is a bush cricket (Ephippiger sp. and seem to be all females. The large insect labelled 'insect two' looks like an immature female of Saga pedo, which is predatory on the bush crickets. Insect one is a robber fly and insect three a shield bug. Your turtle is a loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and the tortoise perhaps Testudo hermani boettgeri?

[Anthony Darby]

The P5s at Newton Primary in Dunblane are doing a project on the environment, so as part of Lucy's biodiversity project I brought out the moth trap. Not many on Monday night, but here are some:
Peach Blossom (Thyatira batis);
Green silver lines (Pseudoips fagana);
Pale prominent (Pterostoma palpina) and
Peppered moth (Biston betularia.

[Ragged Robin]

The P5s at Newton Primary in Dunblane are doing a project on the environment, so as part of her biodiversity project I brought out the moth trap. Not many on Monday night, but here are some:
Peach Blossom (Thyatira batis);
Green silver lines (Pseudoips fagana);
Pale prominent (Pterostoma palpina) and
Peppered moth (Biston betularia.

Wow, Anthony, what a lovely sight - these moths are every bit as diverse and beautiful as butterflies - each one seems to be very aptly named and next time I grind some pepper in the evening I'll think of the Peppered moth    I'm sure the P5s wll be fascinated too to see what gets up when they are sound asleep!

[ranunculus]

Many thanks for the identifications Anthony ... and for the beautiful moths.

[Anthony Darby]

I'll post some pics of last night's catch. I've had this trap for nearly 40 years and it still performs well.

[Lesley Cox]

They are certainly very handsome creatures. I have to wonder what their caterpillars do though, in the garden.

I really like that name of the bush cricket, Ephippiger.

[Paul T]

Anthony,

Are you sure that your "moth trap" isn't really you contacting aliens on the sly?  Sort of looks like it could be used for that as well. 

Very nice pics... love that little green silver lines moth, and the Pale prominent.

[annew]

I like the Peach Blossom.
Yesterday we had a trip into town, (necessitated by me dropping a dish while serving out and spraying glass shards into our entire meal..). Halfway there I noticed that I must have brushed against the spider nest outside the back door, because my jeans were alive with scurrying little beasties. I spent the rest of the journey trying to corral them in the region of my knees to keep them on the OUTSIDE of my clothes, whereupon they started webbing my knees together.
This all reminded me of one of our favourite Larsen cartoons, of a children's slide in a playground with two spiders spinning a web across the bottom, saying "We'll eat like kings tonight!".