10/08/17
A sunny start to the morning and I’m shaking a leg while the others slumber. A nod and hello to the gardener as I go to dump the wine bottles in the glass recycling bin on my way to a new area of waste ground or My Patch 2 (MP2). This is a patch of cleared ground in a depression, framed in part by trees and the remainder by a road close to a golf course.
- MP.2
As I made my way in down a steep rocky bank looking ahead full of optimism I nearly came a cropper thanks to bramble snaking around my feet
.
Scrub negotiated I wandered into an open area populated by ‘weeds’ in flower which had attracted two large black carpenter bees. Again, I struggled to get a decent shot of the insect as they were constantly on the move. I also came across a new Shield bug (
Carpocoris sp.?) . Shield bugs are always impressive for their shape and colouration
- Carpocoris sp. (mediteranneus or fuscispinus ?)
A butterfly wasn’t far behind, this time another new species a Brown Argus
Aricia agestis or, could it be Southern Brown Argus
Agestis cramera ((
A. agestis ssp. cramera) …are they separate species
)
At the far end where honeysuckle snaked up the shrubs I spotted the Bluest blue I’d seen to date. It perched high up so I attempted to get a shot with the FZ-72 but the picture turned out as a white blob. I was 99% convinced that it was a Holly Blue
Celastrina argiolus.
- heavily re-worked record shot of a Holly Blue
As ever there were other interesting looking insects around. This is I think is
Exoprosopa sp. (
jacchus) Silvery Bee fly, and the dragonfly might be an Epaulet skimmer female.
I was also slightly surprised to come across an African Grass Blue when leaving MP2 for home
On the way back to the others, I dropped into MP1 and took these pictures of another Southern Gatekeeper (keeping low down in the grasses) and another unidentified Grasshopper.
When I got back my other half was sunbathing and reading a book whilst the kids were in the pool and in no hurry to get ready to go anywhere. In fact, they had already decided on having a lazy day by pool and this gave me some time to go off and do my own thing …
I’d go back to the dunes at Cabopino
.
Prior to that though I decided to try and get some more photos of the butterflies in the gardens. The first was an open-wing shot of one of the
Zizeeria knysna Grass Blues flitting around the lawn.
After that, a Geranium Bronze burrowing into a flower head for nectar. The paper wasps were keen on the plant too.
Down the side of the apartment block was a shaded area where a Speckled Wood was often seen holding territory. However, on this occasion there was a Small White. Perhaps he’d come there to cool off? I’m glad he did as he settled down to rest enabling me to get in close for this shot.
- Jumping Spider Plexippus paykulli ?
To be continued … (warning very few butterflies in part b)
