{"id":6920,"date":"2019-06-28T08:07:10","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T08:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/?p=6920"},"modified":"2019-07-22T08:58:01","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T08:58:01","slug":"natural-history-in-heel-of-italy-olive-groves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/28\/natural-history-in-heel-of-italy-olive-groves\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural History in the Heel of Italy: 1. Olive Groves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Ancient
Ancient Olive Grove near Ostuni, Puglia. One tree here was measured at 1,400 years old. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mating
Mating Flower Beetles on Greater Pignut. The species has brown elytra, unlike the iridescent green elytra of the thick-kneed flower beetle familiar in northern Europe.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The Olive Groves harbour an attractive flora of herbs and grasses, and a rich fauna of butterflies (here, Common Blue), grasshoppers, bugs and beetles. Birdlife includes Hoopoe, Serin, Swift, and Swallow and the occasional Kestrel, and plenty of Italian Sparrows.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Scabious in Olive Grove<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Mullein<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Stone Grasshopper: this marvellously camouflaged insect is practically invisible unless it moves. Its bold disruptive coloration effectively breaks up its outline and misleads the eye about its shape and shadow. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Fallen fruits of grasses and vetch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Spirit of the Olive Tree? A gnarled olive trunk resembling an ancient face<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Ant-Lion\"
Ant-lion (Myrmeleontidae), another well-camouflaged insect. This is the adult; the larva lives in a burrow, where it traps ants in a conical pit by digging the sand away beneath them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Olive Grove pruning: neat rows of brash, and the occasional stack of logs. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Ant
Ant Road across Olive Grove track<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Large Grasshopper rescued from swimming pool. I also saved a brown lizard but didn’t have the camera with me to record it. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Painted Lady<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Scarlet Darter<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Limestone boulder handsomely lichened in orange, grey, black, and white<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Passenger moth, Dysgonia algira<\/em>. It was easy to see when it moved but not at all badly camouflaged among the limestone blocks of the field wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Spider-hunting wasp (Anoplius: Pompilidae) with much larger prey, which she dragged off to her burrow, paralysed but alive, for her young to live on until they pupate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
House Gecko on wall of old farmhouse (a Masseria)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Italian Sparrow with food for nestlings, waiting for a moment to fly unobserved to the nest hole in the Masseria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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