Monday 10 October 2011

The owners of those eyes


Here as promised are the rest of the creatures eyed-up in yesterday's post, primeval-looking beasts which inhabit the patches of wasteland that survive between the self-contained developments of flats and villas along the southern Spanish coast. These look in October as though someone has poured weedkiller over them; only a few scrubby bits of juniper show green.

Nonetheless they are home to at least two sorts of smallish dragonfly, one green and the other red but neither over-willing to pose for photographs. Looking closer reveals a quite impressive range of grasshoppers, crickets and/or locusts which make mighty leaps when disturbed. If you look closely at this one, on a broken flowerpot which was one of innumerable pieces of interesting litter, you'll discover that it had a little friend nearby (as well as the tiny snail, one of millions somehow surviving in the scrub).


Here's an overview of the habitat, with another green dragonfly if you look closely. If anyone can help me with identification, I will as ever be very grateful, but meanwhile will Google. Rapid update: I think they are female and male Red-veined Darters. I'd also be interested to know why the wealth of bougainvillea, plumbago and hibiscus in the flats' gardens seems to hold little attraction for insects. Mind you, because a lot of people are in residence only rarely, and the developments have strict rules about tidiness, all plants are continuously and vigorously pruned.

2 comments:

Banished To A Pompous Land said...

Very nice close-ups Martin. And you remind us how poorly supplied the UK is with regard to grasshoppers.
There are grasshoppers, crikets and katydids popping up at every footfall over here especially in July and September. And as you found too, grasshoppers have the most astonishing eyes. Some are just plain astonishing...see this one I snapped in the yard a couple of years ago.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/325118

MartinWainwright said...

Thanks v much B - I shall head for that link at once

all warm wishes (actually more like damp and dull ones back in Blighty, but I'd rather live here than on the Costas)

M