When is a blade of grass not a blade of grass?
- Padfield
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When is a blade of grass not a blade of grass?
When it's a praying mantis
These are not the only predators lying in wait for my local butterflies. Here is a spider wrapping up a Christmas present ...
... and here are some he (or she - I don't know) had already wrapped:
(Clouded yellow and wall brown)
(painted lady)
(some caterpillar and a Queen of Spain fritillary)
Edit: I think that might be a bumble bee, not a caterpillar...
(I think this is another Queen of Spain)
That was just one spider, and he had more in his (or her) store!
On a lighter note, I finally found a brown hairstreak today:
Guy
These are not the only predators lying in wait for my local butterflies. Here is a spider wrapping up a Christmas present ...
... and here are some he (or she - I don't know) had already wrapped:
(Clouded yellow and wall brown)
(painted lady)
(some caterpillar and a Queen of Spain fritillary)
Edit: I think that might be a bumble bee, not a caterpillar...
(I think this is another Queen of Spain)
That was just one spider, and he had more in his (or her) store!
On a lighter note, I finally found a brown hairstreak today:
Guy
Last edited by Padfield on Sat Sep 15, 2007 7:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Mike Young
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- alex mclennan
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- Padfield
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I'm afraid I leave butterflies to their fate when I see them in a predator's grasp.
I don't think there is an absolute rule, 'Thou shalt not interfere in nature', because we are part of nature and just by existing we interfere with the creatures around us. But on the whole, do-gooding busybodies (I don't mean you, Alex, whether or not you free butterflies! ) do more harm than good, and rely on judgments they have no right to make.
If I saw a chimpanzee impaling a squirrel on a spike and laughing maliciously I would probably intervene, but such things rarely happen.
Guy
I don't think there is an absolute rule, 'Thou shalt not interfere in nature', because we are part of nature and just by existing we interfere with the creatures around us. But on the whole, do-gooding busybodies (I don't mean you, Alex, whether or not you free butterflies! ) do more harm than good, and rely on judgments they have no right to make.
If I saw a chimpanzee impaling a squirrel on a spike and laughing maliciously I would probably intervene, but such things rarely happen.
Guy
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- Padfield
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I'm actually a great fan of grey squirrels. True, they're not native, but their introduction was hardly their fault. True, they have a deleterious effect on certain bird populations - but not nearly as disastrous an effect as humans have had. They are charming, intelligent, entertaining creatures whose persecution by sometimes hideously cruel means (like warfarin) is unacceptable to me. I'd rather they hadn't been introduced, but now they're here I think we should learn to love them.
There is only one real enemy at loose in the British countryside and it is H. sapiens.
Guy
There is only one real enemy at loose in the British countryside and it is H. sapiens.
Guy
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- Padfield
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Wow - I didn't know there were black squirrels in England! In fact, most (but not all) 'red' squirrels here in the Alps are dark brown or black. Here is one I got on video in 2004:
This is an adult, with tufty ears. It is hiding while my dog walks past but can't resist the temptation to have a peek...
Guy
This is an adult, with tufty ears. It is hiding while my dog walks past but can't resist the temptation to have a peek...
Guy
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- Dave McCormick
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Black squirrels are cool! I never seen one, but I have seen dark red ones and they are nice. I still like grey squirrels, but just for what they do to local red ones, I don't know.
My dad was telling me that one day, he was in a room in this mansion and two squirrels came to window nd one stood on his foot and it never moved for a while.
My dad was telling me that one day, he was in a room in this mansion and two squirrels came to window nd one stood on his foot and it never moved for a while.
Cheers all,
My Website: My new website: http://daveslepidoptera.com/ - Last Update: 11/10/2011
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My Website: My new website: http://daveslepidoptera.com/ - Last Update: 11/10/2011
My Nature videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/DynamixWarePro
Surely, you have to let nature take it's course? Otherwise, you're condemning the spider to starvation. Ditto dragonflies and mantises. Come to that, would you try to drag an Impala out of a Lion's grasp?alex mclennan wrote:....which raises the question - if you saw a butterfly fly into a web, would you try to rescue it or let nature take its course?
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I felt uncomfortable taking photos of butterflies captured by predators, but I guess that’s how nature works and that we humans should just observe and not interfere.
Many butterflies seem to fall prey to crab spiders that lurk in flowers head and wait for their victims. Some seem to be camouflaged according to the colour of the flower, but I’d be interested to hear if this is actually the case or just co-incidence.
Here are two crab spider shots: 1033 is a female large white (pieris brassicae) where you can just see the spider’s legs at the head end, and the unnatural angle of the butterfly’s head indicates that something is wrong. Often if you get too close and a butterfly doesn’t fly off as expected, it’s because it can’t. 2496 is a female ilex hairstreak (satyrium ilicis) that had been seized by a crab spider, but it did have the effect of revealing the upperside which would not otherwise be seen as these satyrium species always rest with closed wings. I believe that 2496 is a female ilicis (and I’m guessing based on the extent of the orange patch) of the form cerri which has extensive orange patches on the forewing.
7684: this large vivid-red beetle has what seems to be a hairstreak, probably ilex.
4327: this still gives me the creeps. I don’t know what the predator is, but it was perfectly camouflaged, and indeed it was quite hard to see even when it was clear that something was holding the unfortunate bergers clouded yellow (colias alfacariensis) and munching its way through it.
I think we would count ourselves lucky that these monsters come butterfly-sized, not human-sized!
Many butterflies seem to fall prey to crab spiders that lurk in flowers head and wait for their victims. Some seem to be camouflaged according to the colour of the flower, but I’d be interested to hear if this is actually the case or just co-incidence.
Here are two crab spider shots: 1033 is a female large white (pieris brassicae) where you can just see the spider’s legs at the head end, and the unnatural angle of the butterfly’s head indicates that something is wrong. Often if you get too close and a butterfly doesn’t fly off as expected, it’s because it can’t. 2496 is a female ilex hairstreak (satyrium ilicis) that had been seized by a crab spider, but it did have the effect of revealing the upperside which would not otherwise be seen as these satyrium species always rest with closed wings. I believe that 2496 is a female ilicis (and I’m guessing based on the extent of the orange patch) of the form cerri which has extensive orange patches on the forewing.
7684: this large vivid-red beetle has what seems to be a hairstreak, probably ilex.
4327: this still gives me the creeps. I don’t know what the predator is, but it was perfectly camouflaged, and indeed it was quite hard to see even when it was clear that something was holding the unfortunate bergers clouded yellow (colias alfacariensis) and munching its way through it.
I think we would count ourselves lucky that these monsters come butterfly-sized, not human-sized!
- Padfield
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The mantis holding the Berger's clouded yellow is a nymph of Empusa pennata - identified as nymph or adult by the projection ('crest') on the head, recalling something one might see on a dinosaur!!
There is, of course, a human-sized praying mantis in episode 4 of Season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, if anyone wants to know what one looks like.
Guy
There is, of course, a human-sized praying mantis in episode 4 of Season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, if anyone wants to know what one looks like.
Guy