This was a slow walk ...
... under the pines ... along the small road paved with fallen needles and fresh, green grass.
It was raining the night before, the snails were surely active in the dark ... and now, I mean on that Wednesday, last week ...
... I saw a snail digging his way into the ground.
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I was there late in the morning, almost noon ...
Butterflies were flying around ... Red admirals ...
... Small cabbage whites ...
... and a dozen or so steps further, down on the road ...
... I noticed another snail. This one was almost completely buried. Only a fragment of the shell was peeking like a disappearing eye.
I was surrounded by rustling sounds made by small lizards running around the needles and various dried vegetation along the road.
I heard many of these reptiles, but most of them were practically invisible. I was able to catch only few of them with my eyes, and all that I have to show you here regarding the lizards, are these two messy shots.
While walking further along the road ... I passed by more buried and half - buried snails ...
... and I learned along the way that not all snails were ready for the burial.
Some of them still stood firmly above the ground ...
... this one was even coming out of the shell.
When taking these photographs I noticed this rectangular hole near the road ...
... it looked that it had something to do with canalization ... dirty water was running through loudly ... and the smell was far from delightful.
I passed by the hole ...
... observing the grass ...
... and the butterflies ... observing and photographing ...
Red admirals mostly.
This black beetle was passing across the road, rolling some moldy piece of something ... and then ...
... I saw this interesting trio.
It looked like some mysterious snail's ritual ...
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... or a snail's conspiracy.
Not far from there I saw this active snail. He was pretty fast compared to the others.
At one point he stopped for a second ... and looked up, at the sky ... the distant branches of the pines ... or something else above his head.
A small moth flew by my head and landed on the green grass near the snail.
Then he flew away ... but landed again not far from there, on the died out ear of grass this time. It was a very interesting moth.
Some steps further I saw a dead snail in the grass on the edge of the road.
Someone must have steeped on him recently.
This was a great feeding opportunity for the ants.
And for me this was a great opportunity to observe and photograph the ants in action.
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These are the Crematogaster scutellaris ants ...
... a pretty colorful species ...
... very common and widespread in this area.
They usually build their colonies in stumps and fallen logs or dead branches.
Although small in size, these ants are pretty aggressive and very dominant on their territory, always ready to attack other intruding ants in defense of the food sources and living space.
They often feed on carcasses ... but they are not only scavengers.
They are also active hunters ... and I see them sometimes shepherding the aphids that live on the trees.
This big Burgundy snail will provide a lot of food to the colony.
But it will take a lot of mandible work, plenty of time and effort ...
... to cut the slimy meat - mountain in small pieces ...
... suitable to be transported ...
... by a multitude of ants.
I spent almost an hour ...
... sitting there ... photographing the ants ...
... and then ...
... I continued my slow, snail - paced Wednesday walk ...
... under the pines ...
... in the good company of mollusks.
As always in these walks on HIVE, all the photographs are my work - THE END.
I was trying to identify that ant and came up with this: The Croatian Acrobat ant: https://www2.palomar.edu/users/warmstrong/ZachAnts1.htm
Does that look like the same ant?
Another fascinating post with amazing pictures.
Yes, the scientific name is also the same :) although I never heard that common name defining it as Croatian, interesting. I mean, these ants are an important part of the natural processes here :D so It's ok that they get the citizenship.
:)))
Very cool story of your walk! Love the photos of the snails and ants.
Thank you :)
the snail digging its way into the ground. I've never seen that before . Pretty cool
Wow, you certainly did get some outstanding photos of some amazing little creatures!
I love snails and I fell so sorry for them cause humans do nothing but deliberately stand on them or poison them...And I have never, ever seen them do anything like that- burying themselves!
And you're big black beetle is a Dung Beetle- we have them all over Australia
https://www.britannica.com/animal/dung-beetle
And I love the photos of the ants, extraordinary creatures aren't they.
We have Green ants over here and they are full of vitamin C and their bums taste like spicy lemon lime flavour- last time I ate one about 20yrs ago when I had a bad cold that would not go away...and then it went away immediately after eating a couple of them. That sounds crazy when I say it out loud, but yes... I once or twice ate some Green ants bums...
https://www.broadsheet.com.au/adelaide/food-and-drink/article/green-ants-and-gin
I'll definitely pass on the Gin- and now the ants too! 🤣
My favourite ants photo is the very last one and my favourite snails photo is the menage a toi...😁
TIP! to you and thank you! 😊
Very nice day for a walk! Never seen so many snails having a party like this!
It’s so nice to have a nature walk with all these creatures!!
Have a nice day!
Thanks :)