I'll start this story with a ladybug in the strange blueish space, that looks too flat, tidy and empty to be natural, almost like a fabric of a piece of clothing or a bag.
But it's a leaf.
Long and large leaf ...
... of a reed.
One of the many that are growing in line, following long stretches of the coastline.
There is always some humidity here, early in the morning.
Even on the hottest and dustiest summer day.
Beautiful pearls of water are formed on these long leaves.
And the place is filled with hungry mosquitoes.
More than one species. Like this lovely tiger mosquito, feeding on my hand.
Or this, more common one, on my leg.
:D or this beautiful red one ...
... already filled with my blood.
With the day getting hotter fast, the mosquitoes and droplets soon disappear from the scene ...
... and we can concentrate on other things ... like ladybugs, ad example ...
... and ants ...
These black ants are patrolling on some leaves and shepherd the aphids that feed on the reed.
But the ants can't control everything ...
... and on some other leaves ...
... out of the ants' territory ...
... the ladybugs can eat the aphids freely.
While some ladybugs are eating on these rich hunting grounds filled with aphids ...
... some others are mating.
... and if we go down, following the stem of the reed ...
... down to the dusty terrain on wich, these plants are growing ...
... we'll find different scenes in a much different setting ...
... it looks like a desert ...
... and something is moving through the dunes ... well camouflaged on this terrain ...
... a bug ... shaped like a little shield.
And very near ... this fast and aggressive beetle has caught a bumblebee.
There is something else, also well camouflaged and hard to define, moving here, between uniformly colored desiccated plants.
Only when it comes on the open, we can clearly see that is a spider ... and that has a bunch of small young spiders on the back.
If we go back, up to the leaves, we'll find different kinds of spiders.
Like this, pretty large, one.
Or this crab spider ...
... looking very lovely and decorative with this yellow color ...
... waiting on the stem near the top of the reed ...
This other, very different, species ...
... is usually found way up, in the tops of the reeds.
Occasionally on the leaves, you can find a snail, firmly closed in his shell covered with dust, waiting for the night to continue his slow feeding march.
But sometimes ...
... and it happened yesterday ...
... when short and sudden summer rain ...
... showers the reeds ...
... the snails ...
... big and small ones ...
... can invade this place in the middle of the day.
... this happens rarely ...
... and when it happens, doesn't last long ...
... and the snails soon retreat to their shelters.
The atmosphere is again hot and dusty ...
... and the leaves are filled with other inhabitants ...
... crickets.
Hordes of young crickets are crawling and jumping around this place.
And they are not of just one species.
If you like crickets ...
... or if, for some reason ...
... you are particularly interested in them ...
... you can find a fine variety here.
And now ...
... imagine that the day is almost over ...
... groups of white butterflies are flying around like snowflakes ...
... seeking shelter in the reeds ...
... preparing for the night rest ...
... little green moths are beginning to show on the leaves ...
... getting ready for their night activities ...
... and if you look down again ...
... on the dusty terrain ...
... that looks like a little desert ...
... you'll see an ancient creature ...
... moving like a little trilobite through the dunes ...
... a roly-poly :) She will also be active during the night, safe from the strong sun. The night will soon fall, but this is not the end of this post.
Let's see some more things that are happening during the long summer day.
Some humans, ad example, like the author of this post, are taking advantage of the abundance of reeds to build little houses on the beach :D
And some moths get caught in the spiderwebs.
In some places ...
... the morning glory plants are growing under the tall reeds ...
... and there are numerous big white flowers ...
... scattered around.
It's a great summer decoration.
With all that blooming, looks like some celebration is gonna start here soon.
But let's go back to the reeds.
On these long and large leaves...
... you can find many species of flies ...
... like this little gray one.
Or this one.
A pretty big and aggressive hunter.
Here is in a characteristic pose, with one leg up.
Or this one. Also a hunter. But much smaller.
Or this species ...
... with lovely fur.
And then ...
... there is this black one ...
... and this other strange little one ...
... yap :) a lot of flies.
And you can find some beetles too. The ladybugs are present here in great numbers.
This one comes here occasionally from the surrounding meadows.
These very small ones too, they can be usually found on flowers.
This one I found at down, surrounded by droplets.
This is also a beetle, but a very differently shaped one.
And with this little collection of Coleoptera :)
And a photo of the cricket cleaning his feet.
And some other pictures ...
... of reeds ...
... and spiders ...
... and snails ...
...and some more crickets ...
... yap ...
... and a bloody mosquito :) ...
... it's time ...
... to bring this long scroll to an end.
That's all about this, kind of forest, of reeds.
Hope you like this summer story from the Mediterranean area.
Have a good day ...
... or night ...
... wherever on the planet you are.
( As always in these posts on Steem8t, all the photographs, are my work. )
Speaking of shit, I took a dump in your wallet! Take a trip to the bathroom to claim your worthless SHIT!
hihihihi :) shit happens ... I'll take a look at the bathroom.
A great macro day!
:)
This is just exceptional.
Great article @borjan
Resteemed
Thank you! :) Glad you like this photo story.
Questo post è stato condiviso e votato dal team di curatori di discovery-it.
Thank you!
Hi borjan,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Thank you! Curie community... and C squared and Discovery it ... and all those great curation communities are a great motivation for me to try every time longer and more complex photo stories. It's great to know that there is a community out there which can see what I'm doing. :) Thank you, now the day is really great.
hey, @borjan, your post is awesome! First of all the photos are fabulous, so clear, perfect in every detail. and then you told everything so well, as if it were a book of insects for children ... have you ever thought that you could make one on the life of insects? it would be interesting! I love ladybugs, especially when they eat !! and the snails ... and the crab spider? never seen one before !! you are very very very good :-)) thanks for sharing
Thank you :) glad you like this kind of illustrated little stories about flora&fauna ... I'm having a lot of fun doing these posts on Steemit ... I always did a lot of wandering around through woods and meadows and photographing but never before I was organizing that in some kind of little docu - stories ... and is great fun to do it :D
you're right, it's a great idea to make documentaries !! could be your next job :-))
:)
Enjoy the vote and some free shit!
:D Thanks, this is some cool shit,man.
Unbelievable shots as always! I don't know how you manage to get the bugs to pose for you. Every time I try to get pictures, they fly away! Also, I love the fort you built. Feels like you should be camping in it!
:) I spend a lot of time with bugs. Usually, I stay still or seat down in the place where they feed, crawl or fly around, at first they run away, but then get accustomed to my presence and is easy to go close and photograph them. But it takes time... and many long and a bit painful positions a bit like yoga, to get a shot. Hehe that fort is now there on the beach, everybody can use it.
I think that is my problem! Not enough patience. I should work on that...
Posted using Partiko Android
:)
Some people are expert and professional in photography and some others are having a flow in their writing. And it seems you have both, a clear focus on what to capture and how to say something about these photographs in a way that people will feel like a story.
Photos have life in it actually, while scrolling I thought the ant is slowly moved in my laptop. Great effort in capturing these photographs with extra ordinary clarity and for making it here in a well planned sequence...
A good post in fact. Cheers
Thank you :) especially for the writing part, I never tried to write in English before Steemit and this is for me the hard part of preparing the post, is great to hear that you find the text good enough. It's a big motivation for me.
Nothing like to fear about writing in English, it is more than good to say the least. The aim is to communicate to other people and the message is properly conveyed. Thats enough
Keep posting...Looking forward to more such stories