Ancient Olive Grove near Ostuni, Puglia. One tree here was measured at 1,400 years old. Mating Flower Beetles on Greater Pignut. The species has brown elytra, unlike the iridescent green elytra of the thick-kneed flower beetle familiar in northern Europe.The Olive Groves harbour an attractive flora of herbs and grasses, and a rich fauna of butterflies (here, Common Blue), grasshoppers, bugs and beetles. Birdlife includes Hoopoe, Serin, Swift, and Swallow and the occasional Kestrel, and plenty of Italian Sparrows.Scabious in Olive GroveMulleinStone Grasshopper: this marvellously camouflaged insect is practically invisible unless it moves. Its bold disruptive coloration effectively breaks up its outline and misleads the eye about its shape and shadow. Fallen fruits of grasses and vetchSpirit of the Olive Tree? A gnarled olive trunk resembling an ancient faceAnt-lion (Myrmeleontidae), another well-camouflaged insect. This is the adult; the larva lives in a burrow, where it traps ants in a conical pit by digging the sand away beneath them.Olive Grove pruning: neat rows of brash, and the occasional stack of logs. Ant Road across Olive Grove trackLarge Grasshopper rescued from swimming pool. I also saved a brown lizard but didn’t have the camera with me to record it. Painted Lady
Scarlet Darter
Limestone boulder handsomely lichened in orange, grey, black, and white
Passenger moth, Dysgonia algira. It was easy to see when it moved but not at all badly camouflaged among the limestone blocks of the field wall.
Spider-hunting wasp (Anoplius: Pompilidae) with much larger prey, which she dragged off to her burrow, paralysed but alive, for her young to live on until they pupateHouse Gecko on wall of old farmhouse (a Masseria)Italian Sparrow with food for nestlings, waiting for a moment to fly unobserved to the nest hole in the Masseria
The English seem unemotional … except for their passion for nature
