Chris Connolly Photography

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  • Cockchafer Beetle Oil Painting
    Cockchafer Beetle Oil Painting.jpg
  • “This bright pink grasshopper is enough to make anyone jump” – and I didn’t find it in the jungles of Borneo or Brazil but in Thomastown, County Kilkenny. When I first found ‘Mr. Pink’, I contacted the Irish Wildlife Trust straight away, thinking that my name would go down in the annals of Irish wildlife history but unfortunately for me, I was informed that it is not a rare species but it is a very unusual colour, which makes it a very rare, interesting and strange find. It’s colour, in terms of percentage in normal Meadow Grasshoppers is less than one percent. Most grasshopper species in Ireland are greenish-brown in colour, but some have genetics that can make them pink or purple-red. It is called erythrism, which is an unusual and little-understood genetic mutation caused by a recessive gene similar to that which affects albino animals. The combination of red hair and freckles in humans is thought to be a form of erythrism, too. These grasshoppers tend not to make it to adulthood or survive for long in the wild as predators easily spot them, so it was a treat for me to see and photograph a grasshopper as beautiful as this one. I suppose if it were found in a field of pink flowers, ‘Mr. Pink’ would have a distinct advantage, so there you go.
    Pink Grasshopper-1.jpg
  • The biblical locust was the Desert Locust, which has been threatening agricultural production in Africa, the Middle East and Asia for centuries. Locusts are normally solitary and actively avoid contact with each other. When conditions are right, particularly after lots of rain, contact becomes unavoidable. As the insects bump against one another, they begin to change. In an hour or so they become attracted to each other and swarm together. When they change into swarming locusts, they also attain the ability to adapt to a wide variety of habitats and food sources, making geography no barrier. These massive swarms can travel as many as 100 miles a day. In 1954, a swarm of locusts flew from Africa all the way to Great Britain, decimating crops along the way. Since the 1900’s, one of these epic plagues persisted for 13 years and covered as many as 460 square miles. A swarm that large would consume 423 million pounds of plants every day. To put this in perspective, a swarm the size of New York City would eat as much in one day as the human populations of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania combined.
    Desert Locust-2.jpg
  • The Ladybird is a small colourful beetle that is found all around the world. There are thought to be more than 5,000 different species of ladybird in the world, with more than 450 species found in North America alone. It is best known for it's spotted body, normally red and black, but orange and yellow ladybirds are often found. Ladybirds are fearsome predators within their environment and are known as gardener's friends as they munch all of the tiny pests that eat the plants i.e. aphids, greenfly, plant lice and other small insects. It is thought that a single ladybird can eat more than 5,000 aphids in just one year. Ladybirds will hibernate in large groups in sites that are used year after year, and they are thought to hibernate in this communal fashion in order to increase their chances of surviving the cold winter. It is thought that pheromones are released by hibernating ladybirds and these pheromones attract other ladybirds to hibernate in the same place. The female ladybird can lay more than 2,000 eggs in one year that hatch in just a few days. Due to climate changes and habitat loss, the ladybird is now considered to be one of the animal species that is threatened with extinction. It has been noted that ladybirds are particularly sensitive to temperature and will die from dehydration if it is much hotter than it should be. It is thought to be good luck to find that a ladybird has landed on you, and most definitely bad luck if you then squash it!
    Ladybird.jpg
  • Adult Darters can be seen on the wing all year round in southern Europe but in northern regions they occur from June to November. This small Dragonfly is seen in a wide variety of habitats, including lakes, ponds, canals and slow-flowing rivers. They are ambush predators, waiting on a prominent perch - such as a leaf or the top of a gate, until prey fly past, whereupon they will fly after it. They are territorial on breeding waters, often attempting to chase much bigger Dragonflies away. This habit of repeatedly returning to a sunny spot allows you to easily predict where they are going to land, which is why it is one of the easiest dragonflies to photograph. In suitable hunting areas away from water, however, they are not territorial: large numbers may assemble - groups of several hundred in a single field have been recorded - and lines of insects can be seen along the top of field gates. Eggs are not laid, but broadcast from the air, the male holds the female in tandem and swings her down and forward over water at a height of around 40 cm. At the furthest point of the arc the female releases some of her eggs to fall on the water.
    Common Darter Dragonfly-4.jpg
  • Cockroaches are a very interesting and resilient pest (the most adaptable creatures on earth) that exhibits some very odd behavior and survival tactics. They spend 75% of their time resting and can withstand temperatures as cold as 32 degrees Fahrenheit. A cockroach can live for a week without its head. Due to their open circulatory system, and the fact that they breathe through little holes in each of their body segments, they are not dependent on the mouth or head to breathe. The roach only dies because without a mouth, it can't drink water and dies of thirst. They can hold its breath for 40 minutes, and can even survive being submerged under water for half an hour. They hold their breath often to help regulate their loss of water. They can run up to three miles in an hour, which means they can spread germs and bacteria throughout a home very quickly. Newborn German cockroaches become adults in as little as 36 days. In fact, the German cockroach is the most common of the cockroaches and has been implicated in outbreaks of illness and allergic reactions in many people. A one-day-old baby cockroach, which is about the size of a speck of dust, can run almost as fast as its parents. The American cockroach has shown a marked attraction to alcoholic beverages, especially beer. They are most likely attracted by the alcohol mixed with hops and sugar. The world's largest roach (which lives in South America) is six inches long with a one-foot wingspan. Average cockroaches can vary in size from ½"- 2" long.<br />
Cockroaches are believed to have originated more than 280 million years ago, in the Carboniferous era. There are more than 4,000 species of cockroaches worldwide, including the most common species, the German cockroach, in addition to other common species, the brown-banded cockroach and American cockroach. Because they are cold-blooded insects, cockroaches can live without food for one month, but will only survive one week without water.
    Cockroach.jpg
  • Members of this family of spiders (12-15mm long) are active hunters with good vision. The nursery-web spider hunts amongst low vegetation as well as on the ground. When detecting prey, they characteristically rest on vegetation with the first two pairs of legs together, held out at an angle. During courtship, the male nursery-web spider presents the female with a ‘nuptial gift’ in the form of an insect wrapped in silk. Until recently, this gift was thought to protect the male from becoming the female’s next meal. Research has shown, however, that the gift entices the female to mate, and what’s more, the size of the gift is related to how long the female will mate with a male. The larger the gift, the longer copulation will last so more eggs will be fertilized by more ‘generous’ males bringing larger gifts. Female spiders belonging to this family produce very large egg sacs, which they carry around beneath their body. When the time for the spiderlings to emerge approaches, the female deposits the egg sac on a leaf and spins a protective silk ‘nursery web’ around it. She then opens the egg sac slightly, and stands guard until the spiderlings emerge. These spiders are large, brown and hairy and are often confused with the Wolf Spider. Unlike the wolf spiders, which have two very prominent eyes in addition to the other six, the eyes of the nursery web spiders are more or less the same size. Many species are able to walk on the surface of still bodies of water, and may even dive beneath the surface for a time to escape enemies. These spiders are venomous & can bite but they are not dangerous. There bite is similar to an ant bite resulting in some very mild swelling for a few days.
    Nursery Web Spider-2.jpg
  • This butterfly was photographed in Ballynafagh Lake in August 2014. The ‘Common Blue’ butterfly is the most common of the Blues found in Ireland. It has a wingspan of 29 – 35mm and it is tightly tied to dense stands of its food plants i.e., the Bird's Foot Trefoil and the Common Restharrow. The male is a very attractive shiny blue, whereas the female is mainly brown with her underside being very decorative, with orange crescents and black spots. The colour of the upperwings of females varies from almost completely brown in southern England to predominantly blue in the west of Ireland, but the colour is variable within local populations with some striking examples. With experience and a good eye most individuals can be found usually resting on dried grass stems, facing down and with the wings closed but one side facing towards the sun to absorb as much heat as possible before the sun finally sets. The males fly around their host plants in order to find females. The green caterpillars (10mm in length) are quite flattened in appearance with a shiny black head, secrete nutrient-containing substances that attract ants and in turn, the ants protect the caterpillars from predators.
    Common Blue Butterfly-1.jpg
  • Large and impressive the Egyptian Grasshopper is a common species around the Mediterranean. Adult female Egyptian grasshoppers can reach a length of 65mm. In fact, they are so large, when in flight; they can often be mistaken for a bird. The male is smaller, growing to around 35mm. The antennae of both sexes are relatively short and robust. The spiny projections on the underside of the legs help the insect to cling to vertical surfaces. The adults are generally grey, brown or olive coloured with variable patterns that allows them to camouflage themselves against tree bark and other vegetation and when they catch sight of you they will move slowly to the opposite side of their ‘perch’, hoping to avoid detection. This grasshopper is vegetarian, essentially feeding on leaves. It is a solitary species and not harmful to crops. They can be told apart from other grasshoppers by the diagnostic vertical striped pattern in their eyes, which is visible at all growth stages. Eggs are laid in the spring just under the soil surface. The young grasshoppers are tiny when they first emerge as nymphs and can be found in a variety of colours including bright green and even a pale orange. It is occasionally found in Britain, having been imported on trucks laden with vegetables and plants.
    Egyptian Grasshopper 3 (Anacridium A...jpg
  • This handsome chap is the common Cockchafer Beetle, also referred to as the May bug, the Spang beetle or the Billy Witch, is a large beetle (15 - 20mm) that is usually seen in late Spring and early Summer. They are attracted to artificial light and often come indoors through open windows or even down chimneys. It has a life span of only 5 - 7 weeks, however the larvae lives under the ground for 3 - 4 years. Because of their long development time as larvae, Cockchafers only appear in a cycle of every 3 or 4 years. Males can easily be distinguished from the females by counting the number of 'leaves' on their remarkable antler or fan-like antennae, male’s sport seven ‘leaves’ while females have only six. These leafy antennae can detect pheromones, enabling males to find females even in the dark. Cockchafers were once highly abundant until pesticide use in the mid 20th Century almost obliterated them. Thankfully they have been making a comeback since the 1980’s with the regulation of pesticides. In the pre-industrialized era, the main mechanism to control their numbers was to collect and kill the adult beetles, thereby interrupting their life cycle. In ancient Greece, young boys used to catch the unwitting cockchafer, and tether it by tying a thread around its feet, amusing themselves by watching the poor chap fly aimlessly around in spirals.
    Cockchafer Beetle-1.jpg
  • Forest bugs (15mm in length), also known as Red-legged Shield Bugs, can be distinguished from other Shield Bugs by their square shoulders because they look like they are wearing American football player padding. Their bodies are a dark bronze-brown colour with orange legs and antennae. The antennae are about the same length as the body. The forest bug's main food source is any of several species of oak, alder, hazel and other deciduous trees, including apple and cherry. As it is a sap-feeder, it uses it’s piercing mouthparts to withdraw the liquid. The forest bug is also an agricultural and garden pest, as it will not hesitate to feed on fruit and nut trees. Adults lay eggs during the summer in the cracks of tree bark, and the larvae hatch the following spring. Adults are partly predatory, feeding on caterpillars and other insects. This species overwinters as a nymph, the adults are present from July to November and the eggs are laid in August. The adults live for one year.
    Brown Shield Bug-1.jpg
  • Oil and Water Macro Photography.
    Oil & Water 4.jpg
  • Crickets can be found hiding under logs, grasses, and in crevices. They can also dig holes into the ground to create homes for themselves, or live in holes created by other animals. Males are territorial and will fight off other males, but allow any number of females to coexist in the same shelter. Male crickets produce several distinctive chirps and each chirp is made by rubbing the two outer wings together. Loud and steady chirps made throughout the night are to attract females and to warn off other males. Loud fast-frequency chirps are emitted when males encounter one another and are preparing to fight. They are intended to frighten off the rival male. A soft clipping sound is made when a female is known to be nearby. Its purpose is to encourage the female to mate. Fun Facts: In many parts of the world, crickets are thought to bring good luck. It is rumored that crickets can tell the outside temperature: Count the number of chirps they make in one minute, divide by 4 and then add the number 40 to reach the outside temperature. There are about 900 species of crickets worldwide.
    Cricket-2.jpg
  • Despite its name, the Small Heath butterfly is not confined to heathland and can be found in a wide variety of habitats. This charming little butterfly always settles with its wings closed, where the eyespot on the underside of the forewing is usually visible, acting as a decoy to any predator. The forewings are tucked behind the hind wings when roosting for long periods, or in dull weather. Males set up territories where they can be found perching, although they also spend time patrolling in search of a mate. When a male encounters another, the pair fly a few meters up into the air before separating. Females will also zigzag over the vegetation in search of a mate. Mating may happen at any time of day and a mating pair may remain coupled from as little as 10 minutes up to 5 hours. Mated females tend to avoid male territories, flying over sparse grassland where they lay their eggs. Both sexes feed on a variety of nectar sources.
    Small Heath Butterfly-1.jpg
  • The great diving beetle, is a large aquatic diving beetle native to Europe and northern Asia, and is particularly common in the UK & Ireland. The great diving beetle, true to its name, is a rather sizable insect. The larvae can grow up to 60 millimeters (2.4 in) in length, while the adults are generally between 27–35 millimeters (1.1–1.4 in). These beetles live in fresh water, either still or slow running, and seem to prefer water with vegetation. They are dark-coloured (brown to black) on their back and wing cases (elytra) and yellow on their abdomen and legs. The male's wing cases are shiny, while those of the female are finely grooved. A voracious predator, this beetle hunts a wide variety of prey including small fish & tadpoles.<br />
They are able fliers, and fly usually at night. They use the reflection of moonlight to locate new water sources. This location method can sometimes cause them to land on wet roads or other hard wet surfaces. Before they dive, they collect air bubbles in their wing cases. The jaws of a great diving beetle are strong compared to their body size & if you see one, don't pick it up because it will bite you.
    Great Diving Beetle-1.jpg
  • Oil and Water Macro Photography.
    Oil & Water 8.jpg
  • The frog you are most likely to see in Ireland is the common frog (Rana Temporaria), which lives on land in damp habitats for most of the year. It may be found in open woods, hedgerows, fields and gardens, not too far from water. The body colour varies widely, with upper parts usually brown or olive, but sometimes yellowish- orange or grey. The underside is normally paler, and the whole body is blotched or spotted with a darker colour, which helps to camouflage it against its background. This frog has a distinctive dark patch behind its eye. A male common frog is slightly smaller than the female, which measures about 7.5cm (3in.). Frogs move by hopping or leaping, using their long, muscular back legs; they do not crawl. They have very smooth, damp skins. The fully webbed hind feet help them to swim. Frogs eat insects and other invertebrates, such as slugs, snails and worms. On summer days, they like to hide amongst tall plants and come out on warm, damp evenings to hunt. Like all amphibians, it is hard for them to find food during the winter, and they cannot function in cold temperatures, so from about mid-October they hibernate in a sheltered place on land e.g. under a log, or in the muddy bottoms of ponds. Males often hibernate in the bottom of ponds, so that they are already at the breeding site when the females arrive in the early spring. They can take in sufficient oxygen through their skin during hibernation under the water.
    Common Frog.jpg
  • Cellar spiders are commonly referred to as "daddy-long-legs" because of their very long, thin legs, and as their name implies, are found in dark and damp places like cellars and basements. Cellar spiders seem to fare better in areas with higher relative humidity. These spiders build loose, irregular, tangled webs in corners, and hang upside down on the underside of them. The webs are not cleaned but rather new webs are continually added. This habit can result in extensive webbing in a relatively short time. When disturbed on its web, the cellar spider has the habit of rapidly shaking its body in a rotary movement to confuse and entangle the prey. Cellar spiders and their webs are usually found in dark and damp places, such as cellars, basements, and crawl spaces. They can also be found in the corners of garages, sheds, and warehouses, on eaves, windows and ceilings, and in closets, sink cabinets and bath-traps. They do not pose a threat to humans, as their weak mouthparts keep them from injecting venom into humans.
    Cellar Spider 1.jpg
  • Saussure's Grasshopper-1.jpg
  • Although snails have eyes, they are blind. They are also totally deaf and rely on their sense of smell to find food. The average garden snail has over 14,000 teeth, which are arranged in rows on their tongue. They eat plants, fruit, vegetables, algae, mushrooms, fungi and sand and soil when seeking calcium to harden their shells.<br />
Snails hibernate during the winter and live on stored fat built up during the summer months. They are nocturnal and don’t like sunlight because it can dry out their bodies. When conditions become too dry, the snail will retreat into its shell and seal the entrance with a parchment-like barrier known as an epiphragm<br />
The garden snail is a hermaphrodite meaning that it possesses both male and female reproductive organs and these are located on the sides of their heads. Although it is able to self-fertilise most snails mate with another snail. Reproduction takes place in early summer and begins with pairing and courtship. After a period in which the pair caress each other with their tentacles, each snail pierces the skin of its partner with a spiny projection called a ‘love dart’. This ‘love dart’ is believed to be the inspiration for the ‘cupid love arrow’ myth. The function of this love dart is unclear, but it is thought that the mucus may act to improve the survival of sperm. Love darts are only made in sexually mature animals. Mating (lasting 4 – 12 hours) then takes place; each snail inserts its penis into its partner at the same time. The snails separate, and the sperm is stored internally until the eggs are ripe. After the eggs have been fertilised, the snails dig a pit in the soil in which to lay the eggs (usually around 85). After 15 days, the eggs hatch. The hatchlings have translucent and delicate shells.
    Snails x Two.jpg
  • Nettles are one of the best places to look for insects because all sorts of creatures can be found on them. Nettles may sting us but insects are immune from the effects. If you look closely at the leaves of the nettle plant you will sometimes see small whitish specks, which close up, prove to be the shiny Green Nettle Weevil. They are between 5mm and 8mm in size and the Green Nettle Weevil is often abundant on the nettle plant, hence its common name. The iridescent sheen of the adult Green Nettle Weevil comes from a coating of green scales, which covers its black body. Over time and with age, these scales easily rub off leaving a black 'shell' underneath resulting in a rather 'worn', patchy appearance, hence the variation between the green and blue colours. They can be found from April to late June.
    Green Nettle Weevil.jpg
  • Oil and Water Macro Photography.
    Oil & Water 7.jpg
  • With their messy trails and taste for greens, Garden Snails are often considered to be a pest whose strong homing instinct makes human control difficult. They are often seen after rain and leave a tell tale trail of mucus. Being hermaphrodites, Garden Snails each have both male & female reproductive organs, but although they can mate with themselves, it's more usual for them to find a partner. When conditions are dry, Snails retreat into their shell and seal the entrance. They can survive in a state of suspended animation for several months. A single Snail can have 430 babies in a year. The Common Garden Snail is also edible and snail farming is currently a booming cottage industry in Britain
    Snails x 2.jpg
  • The House Spider is probably the best known and perhaps the most hated of the Irish spiders - it is fairly large and hairy with long legs. It varies in colour from pale to dark brown, with variable sooty markings on the abdomen. Male and female house spiders are similar in appearance, but males have a more slender abdomen and longer legs. Although often detested, the House Spider provides a service wherever it occurs, reducing the number of flies and other unwelcome insects from our homes, so they are "nature's safest insecticides”. It makes a flat sheet-like silk web, typically with a tubular retreat at one corner. These webs can become fairly large when undisturbed. When an insect falls onto the web, the spider dashes out from its retreat, seizes the prey and returns to the retreat to consume the meal. Male House Spiders are usually seen more often than females, as they wander widely in search of a mate. After a male has found a female's web he will stay with her for a number of weeks, mating with her repeatedly during this time. He then dies and the female eats him, the nutrients within the male contribute to the development of his young. The word 'spider' derives from the Old English word 'spithra', which means 'spinner'. Spider webs have been used to heal wounds and staunch blood flow for many years. Found all over the world, the House Spider is common and widespread throughout Ireland and Europe.
    House Spider-1.jpg
  • Adult Darters can be seen on the wing all year round in southern Europe but in northern regions they occur from June to November. This small Dragonfly is seen in a wide variety of habitats, including lakes, ponds, canals and slow-flowing rivers. They are ambush predators, waiting on a prominent perch - such as a leaf or the top of a gate, until prey fly past, whereupon they will fly after it. They are territorial on breeding waters, often attempting to chase much bigger Dragonflies away. This habit of repeatedly returning to a sunny spot allows you to easily predict where they are going to land, which is why it is one of the easiest dragonflies to photograph. In suitable hunting areas away from water, however, they are not territorial: large numbers may assemble - groups of several hundred in a single field have been recorded - and lines of insects can be seen along the top of field gates. Eggs are not laid, but broadcast from the air, the male holds the female in tandem and swings her down and forward over water at a height of around 40 cm. At the furthest point of the arc the female releases some of her eggs to fall on the water.
    Common Darter Dragonfly-3.jpg
  • The Red Palm Weevil is a relatively large beetle (2 – 5cms) and is a rusty red colour. Weevil larvae can excavate holes in the trunk od a palm tree up to a meter long, thereby weakening and eventually killing the host plant. As a result, the weevil is considered a major pest in palm plantations. Originally from Asia, the Red Palm Weevil has spread to Africa and Europe, reaching the Mediterranean in the 1980s. It was first recorded in Spain in 1994, and in France in 2006. While adults cause some damage through feeding, it is the burrowing of the larvae into the heart of the palm that can cause the greatest mortality in trees. The adult female lays approximately two hundred eggs on new growth in the crown of the palm, at the base of young leaves, or in open lesions on the plant. The larva will feed on the soft fibers and terminal buds, tunneling through the internal tissue of the tree for about a month. The larvae leave the tree and form a cocoon built of dry palm fibers in leaf litter at the base of the tree. The total life cycle takes about 7–10 weeks. This beetle is reported in almost 15% of the global coconut-growing countries and in nearly 50% of the date palm-growing countries. In this photo, if you look closely, you will notice that it is carrying hundreds of babies under her head.
    Red Palm Weevil-1.jpg
  • Although snails have eyes, they are blind. They are also totally deaf and rely on their sense of smell to find food. The average garden snail has over 14,000 teeth, which are arranged in rows on their tongue. They eat plants, fruit, vegetables, algae, mushrooms, fungi and sand and soil when seeking calcium to harden their shells.<br />
Snails hibernate during the winter and live on stored fat built up during the summer months. They are nocturnal and don’t like sunlight because it can dry out their bodies. When conditions become too dry, the snail will retreat into its shell and seal the entrance with a parchment-like barrier known as an epiphragm<br />
The garden snail is a hermaphrodite meaning that it possesses both male and female reproductive organs and these are located on the sides of their heads. Although it is able to self-fertilise most snails mate with another snail. Reproduction takes place in early summer and begins with pairing and courtship. After a period in which the pair caress each other with their tentacles, each snail pierces the skin of its partner with a spiny projection called a ‘love dart’. This ‘love dart’ is believed to be the inspiration for the ‘cupid love arrow’ myth. The function of this love dart is unclear, but it is thought that the mucus may act to improve the survival of sperm. Love darts are only made in sexually mature animals. Mating (lasting 4 – 12 hours) then takes place; each snail inserts its penis into its partner at the same time. The snails separate, and the sperm is stored internally until the eggs are ripe. After the eggs have been fertilised, the snails dig a pit in the soil in which to lay the eggs (usually around 85). After 15 days, the eggs hatch. The hatchlings have translucent and delicate shells.
    Garden Snail Adult.jpg
  • Although snails have eyes, they are blind. They are also totally deaf and rely on their sense of smell to find food. The average garden snail has over 14,000 teeth, which are arranged in rows on their tongue. They eat plants, fruit, vegetables, algae, mushrooms, fungi and sand and soil when seeking calcium to harden their shells.<br />
Snails hibernate during the winter and live on stored fat built up during the summer months. They are nocturnal and don’t like sunlight because it can dry out their bodies. When conditions become too dry, the snail will retreat into its shell and seal the entrance with a parchment-like barrier known as an epiphragm<br />
The garden snail is a hermaphrodite meaning that it possesses both male and female reproductive organs and these are located on the sides of their heads. Although it is able to self-fertilise most snails mate with another snail. Reproduction takes place in early summer and begins with pairing and courtship. After a period in which the pair caress each other with their tentacles, each snail pierces the skin of its partner with a spiny projection called a ‘love dart’. This ‘love dart’ is believed to be the inspiration for the ‘cupid love arrow’ myth. The function of this love dart is unclear, but it is thought that the mucus may act to improve the survival of sperm. Love darts are only made in sexually mature animals. Mating (lasting 4 – 12 hours) then takes place; each snail inserts its penis into its partner at the same time. The snails separate, and the sperm is stored internally until the eggs are ripe. After the eggs have been fertilised, the snails dig a pit in the soil in which to lay the eggs (usually around 85). After 15 days, the eggs hatch. The hatchlings have translucent and delicate shells.
    Snail Juvenile.jpg
  • Large and impressive the Egyptian Grasshopper is a common species around the Mediterranean. Adult female Egyptian grasshoppers can reach a length of 65mm. In fact, they are so large, when in flight; they can often be mistaken for a bird. The male is smaller, growing to around 35mm. The antennae of both sexes are relatively short and robust. The spiny projections on the underside of the legs help the insect to cling to vertical surfaces. The adults are generally grey, brown or olive coloured with variable patterns that allows them to camouflage themselves against tree bark and other vegetation and when they catch sight of you they will move slowly to the opposite side of their ‘perch’, hoping to avoid detection. This grasshopper is vegetarian, essentially feeding on leaves. It is a solitary species and not harmful to crops. They can be told apart from other grasshoppers by the diagnostic vertical striped pattern in their eyes, which is visible at all growth stages. Eggs are laid in the spring just under the soil surface. The young grasshoppers are tiny when they first emerge as nymphs and can be found in a variety of colours including bright green and even a pale orange. It is occasionally found in Britain, having been imported on trucks laden with vegetables and plants.
    Egyptian Grasshopper.jpg
  • Crickets can be found hiding under logs, grasses, and in crevices. They can also dig holes into the ground to create homes for themselves, or live in holes created by other animals. Males are territorial and will fight off other males, but allow any number of females to coexist in the same shelter. Male crickets produce several distinctive chirps and each chirp is made by rubbing the two outer wings together. Loud and steady chirps made throughout the night are to attract females and to warn off other males. Loud fast-frequency chirps are emitted when males encounter one another and are preparing to fight. They are intended to frighten off the rival male. A soft clipping sound is made when a female is known to be nearby. Its purpose is to encourage the female to mate. Fun Facts: In many parts of the world, crickets are thought to bring good luck. It is rumored that crickets can tell the outside temperature: Count the number of chirps they make in one minute, divide by 4 and then add the number 40 to reach the outside temperature. There are about 900 species of crickets worldwide.
    Cricket-1.jpg
  • Adult Darters can be seen on the wing all year round in southern Europe but in northern regions they occur from June to November. This small Dragonfly is seen in a wide variety of habitats, including lakes, ponds, canals and slow-flowing rivers. They are ambush predators, waiting on a prominent perch - such as a leaf or the top of a gate, until prey fly past, whereupon they will fly after it. They are territorial on breeding waters, often attempting to chase much bigger Dragonflies away. This habit of repeatedly returning to a sunny spot allows you to easily predict where they are going to land, which is why it is one of the easiest dragonflies to photograph. In suitable hunting areas away from water, however, they are not territorial: large numbers may assemble - groups of several hundred in a single field have been recorded - and lines of insects can be seen along the top of field gates. Eggs are not laid, but broadcast from the air, the male holds the female in tandem and swings her down and forward over water at a height of around 40 cm. At the furthest point of the arc the female releases some of her eggs to fall on the water.
    Common Darter Dragonfly-2.jpg
  • The Fire Bug or Red Bug is a common insect in Europe. It is easily recognizable due to its striking red and black coloration, it is distributed throughout the Atlantic coast of Europe to northwest China. It has also been reported from the USA, Central America and India. In 2008, the red Fire Bug was first discovered in North America in the southeastern area of Salt Lake City, Utah. Their recent appearance in the United States cannot be explained, but likely they were transported on plant material from Europe or Asia. In Europe, they feed on a wide range of dry, ripe seeds; the nymphs and adults are most commonly found on mallow, linden and lime trees. Firebugs generally mate in April and May and they can often be found in groups (perhaps a hundred individuals) near the base of lime tree trunks (especially on the sunny side). They can be seen in tandem formation when mating which can take as long as 12 hours up to 7 days.
    Firebug.jpg
  • Grasshoppers provide an important source of protein to people in many parts of the world. From what I've heard, grasshoppers are delicious. People have eaten locusts and grasshoppers for centuries. It is recorded in the Bible that John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey while he was living in the wilderness. In many areas of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, locusts and grasshoppers are a regular ingredient of the local diet. Chapulines, or grasshoppers, are delicious when wrapped in a corn tortilla and drenched in chile sauce, or on their own as a quick snack. They are very popular in Oaxaca, Mexico where they are consumed on a daily basis. Chapulines are very high in protein yet very low in fat and have a wonderful crunchy texture when cooked properly. Grasshoppers are served on skewers in some Chinese food markets. Fried grasshoppers (Walang Goreng) are eaten in Java and Indonesia. In the Arab world, they are boiled, salted, sun-dried, and eaten as snacks. In Native America, the Ohlone people burned grassland to herd grasshoppers into pits where they could be collected as food. However, it will be difficult for ‘entomophagy’ (the fancy name for eating insects) to catch on in the Western world where the practice is unsurprisingly viewed with disgust. It will be quite some time before Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver start to make grasshopper pizza or dung beetle lasagna
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  • The Oak Eggar (wingspan of 45 – 75mm), despite its name, does not feed on Oak, but is so-called because the shape of its chrysalis resembles that of an acorn. The food plants are mainly heather and bilberry, but also include bramble sallow, broom, sloe, hawthorn and hazel. They are often confused with butterflies but their flight is fast with sharp changes in direction as they sweep low, back and forth, tasting the air, over the vegetation in which females that have emerged the night before, are resting. Male Oak Eggars are most often seen flying on sunny afternoons while the females fly early in the evening. Once a female has been found the male will mate with her and then move on to find another female. Egg laying for an Oak Eggar moth is a fairly random affair – sometimes, she simply drops the eggs (2mm in diameter) onto the ground whilst flying around and in some cases she will release them in a cluster in one location. The larvae of the Oak Eggar moth can grow up to 6.5cm long. They are dark brown with a line of white spots along their flanks and sometimes a row of red markings is visible lower down. The hairs grow in tufts and act as a defence against predation since they can cause skin irritation, but they are still eaten by some specialists such as the cuckoo. It can take up to 2 years for the full life cycle depending on the warmth of the climate.
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  • Mediterranean Geckos are nocturnal; their bodies are cylindrical, squat and sometimes flattened on the upper side. They have soft, granular skin that feels velvety to the touch. They have the ability to lighten or darken the colouring of their skin in order to blend in or to be less noticeable to other animals. They are expert tree climbers because they have toes that are equipped with claws and sticky toe pads. They provide year-round insect pest control in our landscapes and homes by feeding on the dreaded cockroach and a wide variety of other insects. Geckos have a long breeding season of about four to five months. Each adult female may lay several clutches of two hard-shelled eggs per year. The eggs are often laid in communal nests, are about one quarter of an inch long and are initially soft-textured, but harden quickly. Unlike most lizards, Mediterranean Geckos are capable of vocalising. The males make an advertising call consisting of several clicks. Vocalisations are also used in territorial disputes and to deter predators. An intriguing characteristic of the Mediterranean Gecko is its ability to cast off its tail in defence and regenerate a new one. The tail has several sections on it where it can break off at any given moment and once it has been cast off, the tail will continue to move violently for several minutes until it slows down and stops, thus giving the Gecko a chance to escape. It takes approximately 3 weeks for these geckos to completely regenerate a new tail, although, it is usually never as long as the original one.
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  • Green Orb-Weaver Spiders (5-7mm in length), as the name suggests, have a bright green abdomen and a yellow or reddish coloured head. Just above the spinners (the tail end) they have a bright red spot. This is more obvious on young spiders and can only be seen from underneath the spider. Freshly hatched spiderlings are red, and change to brown before the autumn. Despite their almost fluorescent colour the Green Orb-Weavers can remain very well camouflaged amongst vegetation. It's only when they stray from their normal habitat they get noticed. Green orb-weavers are a common native species found throughout the UK and northern Europe.
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  • The earliest fossil dragonflies date back 300 million years and although some in the past were monsters, their overall shape has changed little since those early days. Although today’s dragonflies can reach wingspans of over 10cms, some of their fossil relatives were more than seven times this size, long before dinosaurs ruled the Earth. Today there are approximately 6,000 named dragonfly species in the world and 55 of these live in Britain and Ireland. Some interesting facts about Dragonflies: Each dragonfly wing can be operated separately. A flexible joint on the leading edge of each wing allows the insect to twist more strongly as it turns. They are able to fly at more than 20 miles per hour and can fly backwards. Adult dragonflies have virtually 360 degree vision, with only the area directly behind the head, where the wings and body naturally interrupt the image, being unseen. They live for two to three years under the water and for two to six months above the water. They are voracious predators. They feed on other insect larvae, worms, leeches and even small tadpoles and fish. Up to 90% of young dragonflies are eaten by birds, frogs and other small mammals.
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  • This is one of our more exotic looking spiders. It's a native spider of Mediterranean areas, and has only recently colonized England. Despite the warning colouration this is not a dangerous species. The wasp-like appearance is probably defensive, to deter predators. The Wasp Spider builds its web close to the ground in order to catch grasshoppers and crickets. The female can often be seen hanging upside-down in the middle of her web throughout summer and autumn. The web features a distinctive zigzag patterned section running vertically through it. The large abdomen features yellow, black and white stripes, and the cephalothorax is covered with silver coloured hair. When viewed from underneath you can see two yellow stripes running lengthways along the abdomen. The female Wasp Spider creates one of the largest egg sacs of any of the spiders found in Britain. It is flask shaped, brown in colour and about 25mm across. She fills it with eggs and then seals the top with more silk. The male is much smaller, and is only active for a couple of weeks in July. Like many other male spiders, he has to be careful when mating, to ensure he doesn't end up as dinner for the female.
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  • Grasshoppers existed long before dinosaurs. The ancestors of our modern day grasshoppers evolved well over 200 million years ago, during the Triassic period, when the first reptiles appeared on earth. The fossil record shows that primitive grasshoppers first appeared during the carboniferous period, more than 300 million years ago. Most ancient grasshoppers are preserved as fossils, although grasshopper nymphs are occasionally found in amber. Grasshoppers cause billions of dollars in damage to food crops worldwide, annually. A lone grasshopper doesn’t do much harm, although it eats about half it’s body weight in plants every day. When they swarm, their combined feeding habits can completely defoliate a landscape, leaving farmers without crops and people without food. In the United States alone, grasshoppers cause about $1.5 billion in damage to grazing lands each year. Grasshoppers sometimes “spit” brown liquid in order to defend themselves. If you’ve handled enough grasshoppers in your day, you’ve probably had a few spit brown liquid on you in protest. Scientists believe this behavior is a means of self-defence, and that the liquid helps them repel predators. Some people say that
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  • Members of this family of spiders (12-15mm long) are active hunters with good vision. The nursery-web spider hunts amongst low vegetation as well as on the ground. When detecting prey, they characteristically rest on vegetation with the first two pairs of legs together, held out at an angle. During courtship, the male nursery-web spider presents the female with a ‘nuptial gift’ in the form of an insect wrapped in silk. Until recently, this gift was thought to protect the male from becoming the female’s next meal. Research has shown, however, that the gift entices the female to mate, and what’s more, the size of the gift is related to how long the female will mate with a male. The larger the gift, the longer copulation will last so more eggs will be fertilized by more ‘generous’ males bringing larger gifts. Female spiders belonging to this family produce very large egg sacs, which they carry around beneath their body. When the time for the spiderlings to emerge approaches, the female deposits the egg sac on a leaf and spins a protective silk ‘nursery web’ around it. She then opens the egg sac slightly, and stands guard until the spiderlings emerge. These spiders are large, brown and hairy and are often confused with the Wolf Spider. Unlike the wolf spiders, which have two very prominent eyes in addition to the other six, the eyes of the nursery web spiders are more or less the same size. Many species are able to walk on the surface of still bodies of water, and may even dive beneath the surface for a time to escape enemies. These spiders are venomous & can bite but they are not dangerous. There bite is similar to an ant bite resulting in some very mild swelling for a few days.
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  • These beautiful Demoiselles are the largest of our native damselflies. The males have a dark blue-green metallic body and dark blue coloured patches on their wings. It is a large damselfly with a total length of up to 48 mm (1.9 in) and a wing length of up to 36 mm (1.4 in). The female has translucent, pale green iridescent wings with a white patch near the tip and a metallic green body. She can lay up to 10 eggs per minute for 45 minutes (450). They lay in a wide variety of emergent or floating plants, sometimes even submerging to do so. Males are usually territorial, but large numbers can sometimes be found in lush bank-side plants and on floating objects. They are easily identified because they resemble butterflies with their gentle, fluttering flight. They court females by opening their wings and performing an aerial dance. You can usually find Banded Demoiselles around slow moving areas of water and they are very sensitive to pollution so their presence is often an indicator of good water quality. They are on the wing throughout June and July and often into August and it is when they fly in the sunshine that you can see the stunning blue shimmer. The Banded Demoiselle is a Eurasian species and is present throughout Eurasia from the Atlantic coast to the northwest of China. They are also found throughout the UK and Ireland.
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  • This handsome chap is the common Cockchafer Beetle, also referred to as the May bug, the Spang beetle or the Billy Witch, is a large beetle (15 - 20mm) that is usually seen in late Spring and early Summer. They are attracted to artificial light and often come indoors through open windows or even down chimneys. It has a life span of only 5 - 7 weeks, however the larvae lives under the ground for 3 - 4 years. Because of their long development time as larvae, Cockchafers only appear in a cycle of every 3 or 4 years. Males can easily be distinguished from the females by counting the number of 'leaves' on their remarkable antler or fan-like antennae, male’s sport seven ‘leaves’ while females have only six. These leafy antennae can detect pheromones, enabling males to find females even in the dark. Cockchafers were once highly abundant until pesticide use in the mid 20th Century almost obliterated them. Thankfully they have been making a comeback since the 1980’s with the regulation of pesticides. In the pre-industrialized era, the main mechanism to control their numbers was to collect and kill the adult beetles, thereby interrupting their life cycle. In ancient Greece, young boys used to catch the unwitting cockchafer, and tether it by tying a thread around its feet, amusing themselves by watching the poor chap fly aimlessly around in spirals.
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  • Oil and Water Macro Photography.
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  • Oil and Water Macro Photography.
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  • As the name suggests, the common blue damselfly is one of the commonest species in Ireland. Adult males are predominantly blue, spotted with black markings resembling stripes. Adult females are much darker with larger areas of black and usually a green background colour. Both dragonflies and damselflies are strong and swift fliers. Apart from their smaller size and generally more slender build, the easiest way to distinguish damselflies from dragonflies is the position of the wings when the insect is resting. Dragonflies rest with both pairs of wings held perpendicular to the body, whereas damselflies hold them almost parallel; also damselfly eyes are further apart than those of a dragonfly. Common blue damselflies appear in mid to late May and their flight period lasts right through the summer months to September. Adults live for around 12 days on average and in this short period they must breed. Mating can take up to 20 minutes and the females lay their eggs in the tissue of plants both above and below the water line and are capable of remaining submerged for some time. The male will stay guarding her at the point where she entered the water. The common blue damselfly is found around open lakes and ponds, along river and canal banks, and streams, provided there is plenty of bankside vegetation.
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  • Ground beetles are members of the Carabidae family, which contains around 350 species in Britain & Ireland. Most ground beetles are voracious predators. As the name suggests, many ground beetles spend their time on the ground and few can fly. The fusion of their wing cases acts as protecting armour. Both larvae and adults are carnivorous and often specialize in eating slugs and snails, as well as eating a range of carrion. Depending on the ground beetle species, they will also attack aphids and other pest insects. By encouraging them into your garden you can start on the road to a natural method of pest control. Many ground beetles are nocturnal and need some form of shade during the day. Provide them with shelter such as a log pile, leaf litter or just some large stones. Ground beetles can be found throughout the year, although they hibernate during the coldest winter months. When threatened, ground beetles can discharge a noxious, highly irritant fluid (harmless to humans) from the tip of their abdomen. Females also use this as their own can of 'pepper spray' to deter over-amorous males. Many ground beetles eat by vomiting on their prey and waiting for their digestive enzymes to make their food more fluid and easier to eat.
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  • The Sickle-Bearing Bush Cricket can be found in most of Europe and as far eastwards as Japan, including all central Asia. It is a medium size (35mm) grasshopper with a pale green body covered with black spots and can be seen in dry locations: calcareous meadows, fallow lands, bushes and moorlands from July to October. It can be identified by its wings, which are much longer than the elytra (wing cases). The length of the antenna can reach four times the length of the body. The female's abdomen ends with a sharply upturned ovipositor. The Sickle-bearing Bush-cricket mainly feeds on plants and the female lay the eggs on the shrub's leaves, particularly on Blackthorn. The Sickle-bearing Bush-cricket can fly a relatively long distance when frightened. Although, not native to the British Isles, in 2006 a breeding colony was discovered during entomological survey work in Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve in East Sussex. This is the first confirmed breeding record of the species in Britain as adults and nymphs were recorded. Although it was also recorded in Cornwall over 100 years ago this may have been an occasional migrant but it seems that this continental species may be increasing its range.
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  • Green Tiger Beetles (the fastest insect on Earth) are easily recognized by their iridescent green colour with yellowish spots on their back. Adult Green Tiger Beetles can be seen from April to September and are between 10 - 15mm in length (they have a life span of 6 weeks). They have long legs that make them agile when hunting for prey and large eyes making them the perfect predator. If disturbed, they will fly short distances making a buzzing sound in flight. Green Tiger Beetles have extremely large jaws (mandibles) that have several teeth that resemble two curved swords with pointed blades. They are among the fastest insects on Earth, they can run at a speed of 5.6 mph, which relative to its body length, is about 22 times the speed of an Olympic sprinter & the equivalent of a human running at 480 miles per hour. In fact, Tiger Beetles run so fast that they actually lose the ability to see once they start moving. They have to visually lock on to their prey first, or run in short bursts to re-orient themselves as they chase their food. Either way they are so fast, their prey stands little chance of getting out of the way in time. Adults feed on any small invertebrates that they can catch including spiders, caterpillars, ants & other beetles. "If a military designer needed a model for a perfect combination of jeep and aircraft, able to switch from one to the other instantly, he need look no further than these feisty little creatures".
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  • The biblical locust was the Desert Locust, which has been threatening agricultural production in Africa, the Middle East and Asia for centuries. Locusts are normally solitary and actively avoid contact with each other. When conditions are right, particularly after lots of rain, contact becomes unavoidable. As the insects bump against one another, they begin to change. In an hour or so they become attracted to each other and swarm together. When they change into swarming locusts, they also attain the ability to adapt to a wide variety of habitats and food sources, making geography no barrier. These massive swarms can travel as many as 100 miles a day. In 1954, a swarm of locusts flew from Africa all the way to Great Britain, decimating crops along the way. Since the 1900’s, one of these epic plagues persisted for 13 years and covered as many as 460 square miles. A swarm that large would consume 423 million pounds of plants every day. To put this in perspective, a swarm the size of New York City would eat as much in one day as the human populations of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania combined.
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  • The Fox Moth is one of Ireland’s largest moths with a wingspan of 60 to 70mm (2.5 – 3 inches). It is found in most parts of the country and can be seen in May to early July. The male Fox Moths are a reddish brown colour (resembling that of a fox) with two, thin yellow stripes running straight across each forewing. Female Fox Moths are paler and more greyish in colour. The male flies by day and night, while the female only flies at night. The Caterpillars can be a little tricky to identify as they change colour as they grow. The younger caterpillars are black with thin orange bands along their length. The older caterpillars are a reddish-brown colour and covered in long grey hairs, known as setae. Although many species depend on camouflage as a form of protection against predators, the hair acts as a defence against birds and predatory insects such as parasitoid wasps, which find it difficult to penetrate beyond the hairs to lay eggs beneath the caterpillar’s skin. The Caterpillars eat a remarkably wide range of plants i.e.: Brambles, Strawberries, Raspberries, Alfalfa, Clovers, Blackthorn, Potentillas, Heathers and Roses. They live communally, protecting themselves with a web and hibernating through the winter. These dark hairy caterpillars can often be mistaken for the dreaded, but unrelated, Processionary Caterpillars, which have severely irritant hairs (similar to the Stinging Nettle or Poison Ivy). The caterpillars of the Fox Moth can be picked up and handled, although if you have sensitive skin you might find that they will give you a rash. The caterpillar won’t be too impressed either and will form a coil in self-defence. They can be found in grassland habitats including moorland, damp meadows, sand dunes and open woodland
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  • Oil and Water Macro Photography.
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  • Ground beetles are members of the Carabidae family, which contains around 350 species in Britain & Ireland. Most ground beetles are voracious predators. As the name suggests, many ground beetles spend their time on the ground and few can fly. The fusion of their wing cases acts as protecting armour. Both larvae and adults are carnivorous and often specialize in eating slugs and snails, as well as eating a range of carrion. Depending on the ground beetle species, they will also attack aphids and other pest insects. By encouraging them into your garden you can start on the road to a natural method of pest control. Many ground beetles are nocturnal and need some form of shade during the day. Provide them with shelter such as a log pile, leaf litter or just some large stones. Ground beetles can be found throughout the year, although they hibernate during the coldest winter months. When threatened, ground beetles can discharge a noxious, highly irritant fluid (harmless to humans) from the tip of their abdomen. Females also use this as their own can of 'pepper spray' to deter over-amorous males. Many ground beetles eat by vomiting on their prey and waiting for their digestive enzymes to make their food more fluid and easier to eat.
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  • Grasshoppers jump by catapulting themselves into the air. If humans could jump the way grasshoppers do, we could easily leap the length of a football field or more. How do they jump so far? It’s all in those big back legs. A grasshopper’s hind legs function like miniature catapults. When it wants to jump, the grasshopper contracts its large flexor muscles slowly, bending its hind leg at the knee joint. A special piece of cuticle within the knee acts as a spring, storing up all that potential energy. When the grasshopper is ready to jump, it relaxes the leg muscles, allowing the spring to release its energy and catapulting its body into the air. Grasshoppers can also fly. Because grasshoppers have such powerful jumping legs, people sometimes just don’t realize that they have wings, too! Most grasshoppers are pretty strong fliers, and will make good use of their wings to escape predators. Their jumping ability just gives them a boost into the air. Grasshoppers have ears in their bellies. The auditory organs are in an unusual location – on their abdomens. On each side of the first abdominal segment, tucked under the wings, you’ll find membranes that vibrate in response to sound waves. This simple eardrum allows the grasshopper to hear the songs of its fellow grasshoppers.
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  • The Blue-Winged Grasshopper is a heat and drought-loving grasshopper that can be found in of sparse vegetation and barren and sandy areas such as quarries, gravel pits, industrial terrain & the ballast of railway tracks. This species has the ability to perfectly blend in with its surrounding habitat thanks to its morphological camouflage. The base colour varies considerably but you will always find red (to blend in with the soil), blue/white (to blend in with rocks) and almost black animals with a pronounced pattern of dark bands and speckled spots on the bodies. This ability is extremely beneficial for survival as it helps to avoid becoming prey by wandering aerial predators. While they are excellent fliers and very mobile, they usually only fly (reluctantly) when disturbed. The adult animals can be found from mid-June to October. The eggs are laid in open sandy-gritty soil and hatch in late May to early June. It can be found anywhere from Spain to southern Scandinavia and even as far afield as western Russia.
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  • Adult Darters can be seen on the wing all year round in southern Europe but in northern regions they occur from June to November. This small Dragonfly is seen in a wide variety of habitats, including lakes, ponds, canals and slow-flowing rivers. They are ambush predators, waiting on a prominent perch - such as a leaf or the top of a gate, until prey fly past, whereupon they will fly after it. They are territorial on breeding waters, often attempting to chase much bigger Dragonflies away. This habit of repeatedly returning to a sunny spot allows you to easily predict where they are going to land, which is why it is one of the easiest dragonflies to photograph. In suitable hunting areas away from water, however, they are not territorial: large numbers may assemble - groups of several hundred in a single field have been recorded - and lines of insects can be seen along the top of field gates. Eggs are not laid, but broadcast from the air, the male holds the female in tandem and swings her down and forward over water at a height of around 40 cm. At the furthest point of the arc the female releases some of her eggs to fall on the water.
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  • National Biodiversity Ireland Award.jpg
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