FOUR CHAPTERS OF A LONG SUMMER DAY

Summer days are long and I often spend them outdoors. On my favorite stretch of coastline that goes from the harbor of Liznjan, four or five kilometers from where I live, to the beaches that can be reached from Shishan, another village, a bit further, I'll say another three to four kilometers, northeast of Liznjan.

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In this post, I'll show you the scenes from one of those long, hot summer days, divided into four chapters, each one with its own, distinctive atmosphere. Have a good viewing.

This first chapter won't be that hot, actually. I started the day too early to sweat.

It was still dark and the air was fresh and humid.

The crickets were still singing in the dark ...

... the solitary Halictus scabiosae bees were sleeping on the flowers ...

... and I was experimenting with long exposure settings and the flashlight ...

... as the sky along the eastern horizon was rapidly getting brighter.

This is the Tylopsis lilifolia, bushcricket from the Tettigoniidae family. I mean, all the grasshoppers' relatives from that family are commonly known as bushcrickets, katydids, or long-horned grasshoppers. It was still dark when the photograph was taken. I used the flashlight to illuminate the insect and see what I'm photographing. I used the flash of my camera as well because the light was still very low for a decent photograph made without a tripod.

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The bushcricket introduced earlier in the post is the Pachytrachis gracilis.

In this shot, the sky is a bit brighter than before, very slightly but it is, while in the following photograph ...

... I zoomed in to take a better look at the vivid colors that preceded the appearance of the sun. At that point ...

... the sky behind and above me was bright and intensely blue.

In this shot, I zoomed in on one of the piers of the islet called Levan. There weren't many boats there early in the morning. Tourists will start arriving between 10 and 11 AM.

Here you can see Levanich, a much smaller islet near Levan. The distance between the two is about 600 - 700 meters.

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After photographing the distant islets, I noticed some interesting bugs from the Scutelleridae family.

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They were mating on one of the Eryngium amethystinum plants before my feet.

Meanwhile, beautiful colors could be seen above the eastern horizon.

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When it comes to the name of this species, I can't tell you that. But I know the genus. The name of the genus is Hotea. Judging by what I found about them on the Internet, which is almost nothing, it seems that the members of this genus are some very obscure little bugs. After taking a bunch of bug-themed shots through the macro lens, when I looked at the distant horizon again ...

... the sky looked like a sea of lava that announces the hot plate of the sun.

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An hour later, I photographed a camping van ...

... parked a couple of hundred meters from me, closer to the beach.

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Up there in the sky, an airplane was passing through a veil of clouds.

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Down on the ground, in the dried-out grass before my feet ...

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... I found another interesting bug.

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Can't tell you the name or anything else about this well-camouflaged, stick-like species but I'm a hundred percent sure that this is a nymph, not an adult.

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This chapter starts at 11 AM, approximately. It was very hot when the above photograph was taken. In its foreground, you can see a friend of mine who was chasing insects and spiders just like me, while a speedboat is speeding far in the background.

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In the tall grass, about 50 - 60 meters from the sea ...

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... I came across a bunch of spiderlings ...

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... in the nest that a female built around the ear of grass.

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This is the offspring of the Pisaura mirabilis, a spider from the Pisauridae family.

In photography, different kinds of light can reveal different details and properties of the world around us. In this shot, taken with the flash of my camera, the structure of the nest is much better defined than in the previous few photographs.

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On the Crithmum maritimum plant, very close to the sea, I found a camouflaged grasshopper. This is the Acrida ungarica mediterranea, commonly known as the cone-headed grasshopper or the Mediterranean slant-faced grasshopper.

In this photograph, I caught a descending airplane that was flying towards the airport of Pula. The image of the distant plane is slightly distorted due to the hot air.

This Plebejus argus, a small butterfly from the Lycaenidae family, was feeding on the nectar produced by the tiny flowers of the Limonium narbonense plant.

This is a bug from the Stenocephalidae family. Dicranocephalus agilis is the name of the species.

Here you can take another look at the scenery. The next chapter is coming soon.

I photographed some interesting creatures in the afternoon.

Here you can see a mantis.

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The most common mantis in this area.

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Mantis religiosa. Commonly known as the European mantis. In the following photograph ...

... you can take a look at a different kind of mantis.

This is a nymph.

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A young, wingless specimen.

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The name of the species is Empusa pennata.

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Later, as adults, they'll still have some unique and interesting features, but now, in their nymphal stage, these mantises are at their weirdest.

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What a spectacular little creature! As I was exploring the meadows ...

... some people were leaving the beach.

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I mean, many of them were leaving, actually.

A fairly long line of cars on the dusty, unpaved road looked very photogenic in the golden light of the late afternoon ...

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... so I took plenty of photographs before returning to the macro stuff.

Here you can see three young spiders on the same thread.

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I noticed more spiderlings soon.

The mother was resting nearby ...

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... while they were hanging around ...

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... in groups of two or three, mostly.

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The name of this species is Oxyopes heterophthalmus. It belongs to the Oxyopidae family.

While I was observing the spiders in the tall grass ...

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... my friend was chasing the grasshoppers near the sea.

Here you can see a small boat that was anchored in the inlet.

I also caught some coastal grasshoppers soon. This is the Oedaleus decorus. In the following photograph ...

... you can see another Acrida ungarica mediterranea.

This caterpillar is a larval stage of the Hyles euphorbiae, a moth from the Sphingidae family.

Here you can see the Spialia sertorius, a butterfly from the Hesperiidae family.
That's all I photographed in the afternoon.

We were still chasing insects and spiders when the evening came.

In the distance, a pretty large cargo ship was sailing across the bay ...

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... and the last tourists were leaving.

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The light provided by the setting sun looked gorgeous.

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This weevil (can't tell you the name of the species, the family is Curculionidae) was still active when the following photograph was taken.

As you can see, it was getting late. The night was almost there.

This Colletes hederae bee has found a nice place in which to spend the night. It was time to go home.

FOUR CHAPTERS OF A LONG SUMMER DAY

AND THAT'S IT. AS ALWAYS IN THESE POSTS ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK.