In this post, I'll present what I found and photographed on a few occasions at the end of April and the first days of May. I used to visit one of the roadside meadows between the villages of Shishan and Valtura quite often in those days.
(Enlargeable)
Most of the stuff you'll see here takes place on twigs and foliage of shrubs and small trees that form a dense, intricate wall of vegetation that grows under the first line of taller trees bordering the meadow.
(Enlargeable)
This photograph shows a moth from the Geometridae family. The name of the species is Camptogramma bilineata. The moth was resting, well hidden on the lower surface of the Quercus pubescens leaf. Quercus pubescens is an oak, a species commonly known as the downy oak, pubescent oak, or Italian oak. I had to lie on my back to get a good shot of the insect on one of the lowest branches of the small tree.
(Enlargeable)
This wide shot shows the same moth, but the picture is quite different, becouse the insect is small and kinda lost in its surroundings.
(Enlargeable)
This is the Cryptocephalus bipunctatus, a beetle from the Chrysomelidae family.
(Enlargeable)
Cryptocephalus bipunctatus was also photographed on the Quercus pubescens, but it wasn't the same tree. This one ...
(Enlargeable)
... was much smaller. Still a sapling, probably.
(Enlargeable)
This is Maniola jurtina, a butterfly from the Nymphalidae family. The photograph shows a male; females have different markings on the wings.
(Enlargeable)
The butterfly, commonly known as the meadow brown, was resting on the leaves of the wild Rosa gallica shrub that grows among the branches of a small, shrubby Quercus ilex tree.
(Enlargeable)
Only a few meters from the tree, another Maniola jurtina male was feeding on the Ligustrum vulgare flowers.
(Enlargeable)
Here you can take a better look at the Rosa gallica shrub. I used the flash in the subdued light at sunset to separate the shrub from the surroundings. You can also see two lovely wild roses that will soon spread their petals. The following photograph ...
(Enlargeable)
... shows the same flowers in ambient light.
(Enlargeable)
The foliage in the center of this shot belongs to the Paliurus spina-christi plant.
On that thorny shrub, I came across an interesting leafhopper I had never seen before.
(Enlargeable)
The insect was resting on one of the juicy young leaves at the top of the plant.
(Enlargeable)
The scientific name of this species from the Deltocephalinae subfamily in the rich and varied Cicadellidae family is Penthimia nigra.
(Enlargeable)
Here you can see another Hemiptera I photographed on the Paliurus spina-christi shrub.
(Enlargeable)
It's a nymph, a juvenile bug that hasn't reached its final mature stage. The name of the species is Closterotomus annulus. It belongs to the Miridae family.
(Enlargeable)
This photograph, taken at dusk, shows the branches of another small downy oak that grows at the edge of the meadow.
(Enlargeable)
Here you can see one of the caterpillars I found on the oak leaves.
(Enlargeable)
It's a moth larva from the Noctuidae family. In this shot, the caterpillar is posing on the Quercus ilex leaf.
(Enlargeable)
The scientific name of the species is Orthosia miniosa.
(Enlargeable)
I haven't seen an adult moth so far. The larvae feed on various trees and shrubs, but prefer oaks. All kinds of oaks.
(Enlargeable)
Here you can see a different, smaller caterpillar on the partially eaten leaf of the downy oak.
(Enlargeable)
This is the larva of a moth from the Geometridae family.
(Enlargeable)
In this case, I can't say what species exactly this is, but I'm sure that it belongs to the genus Eupithecia. With Eupithecia being the largest genus in the Geometridae family, there are plenty of very similar species that look like the right match.
(Enlargeable)
If I had to guess, I'd say that this is an Eupithecia virgaureata caterpillar.
(Enlargeable)
Some of the caterpillars that feed on the Quercus pubescens aren't easy to notice, but ...
(Enlargeable)
... but traces of their activity are quite visible. Here you can see an area of the leaf partially eaten by those tiny larvae.
For this shot, I put the leaf between the lens of my camera and the setting sun to make things translucent. Now you can see the shapes behind the curtain.
(Enlargeable)
To get a better look at the caterpillars, I had to destroy part of their shelter.
(Enlargeable)
Here you can see one of them hurrying towards the safe place under the translucent roof.
(Enlargeable)
These larvae feed on the tissue below the upper surface, hidden and protected inside the leaf. Their feeding style is called mining. Different larvae of different insects, from moths, through flies, to beetles, share that mining lifestyle. In this case, you are looking at moth caterpillars.
(Enlargeable)
The scientific name of the species is Acrocercops brongniardella. It belongs to the Gracillariidae family.
(Enlargeable)
If you can't see the larvae, the shape, color, and size of the traces made by their activity on the leaves are enough to identify the species. In its larval stage, Acrocercops brongniardella feeds and develops in the leaves of various oak species. Adult moths feed on nectar, honeydew, sap from trees and flowers, and fruit juices.
Here you can see two caterpillars under the translucent layer of the plant tissue on the upper surface of the leaf.
(Enlargeable)
This photograph shows two longhorn bees (Eucera longicornis) resting on the grass that grows under the shrubs and shrubby trees on the edge of the meadow. Eucera longicornis belongs to the Apidae, the largest bee family. In the evening, you can see many of these robust bees with long antennae resting in pairs or small clusters on the herbaceous vegetation of the meadow.
Here you can see a small, gracile plant, photographed in the same area, that looks great in the subdued ambient light at dusk.
(Enlargeable)
It's a grass from the Poaceae family. The scientific name of the species is Aira elegans.
(Enlargeable)
Aira elegans is commonly known as the elegant hairgrass. Less than a meter further ...
... on the lower branches of a nearby shrub that I wasn't able to identify, I photographed a lovely cluster of tiny spiders.
These spider babies belong to the Araneidae family. The scientific name of the species is Araneus diadematus.
Here you can see a Maniola jurtina male resting on the leaves of the Mespilus germanica sapling. A few minutes later ...
... the butterfly flew to the nearby Quercus pubescens.
(Enlargeable)
Mespilus germanica is a plant from the Rosaceae family that grows as a large shrub or small tree, often among the vegetation that forms hedges between the woods and open grassy areas.
(Enlargeable)
When I took these photographs, the large shrub was covered with a multitude of green, unripe fruits.
(Enlargeable)
There were only a couple of flowers among those fruits, and only one of those flowers ...
(Enlargeable)
... was still in relatively good shape.
(Enlargeable)
Here you can see a shriveled flower ready to lose what remains of its decaying petals.
(Enlargeable)
Fruits of Mespilus germanica are edible. They have a very good, distinct taste, but they can be eaten only when they start looking spoiled and rotten. You can pick them unripe, and then when they get soft and brown at home, you can enjoy them as food.
(Enlargeable)
This is the Bombylius minor, a fly from the Bombyliidae family.
The furry insect was resting on the Mespilus germanica shrub.
This beetle belongs to the Chrysomelidae family. The scientific name of the species is Smaragdina salicina. Chrysomelidae are commonly known as leaf beetles.
(Enlargeable)
The shiny leaf beetle was resting on the leaves of the small, shrubby Prunus spinosa tree. That same evening ...
(Enlargeable)
... on the juicy leaves of the Phillyrea latifolia tree, I came across a leaf beetle I had never seen before.
(Enlargeable)
The scientific name of this species, closely related to Smaragdina salicina, is Smaragdina aurita.
(Enlargeable)
Photographing something new in an area I have visited so many times over the past few decades of obsession with macrophotography is always an exciting experience.
(Enlargeable)
This wide shot shows a bit of the scenery, a chunk of the large meadow, and the wall of small trees and shrubs that surrounds it.
(Enlargeable)
There is much to see and photograph on the downy oaks in spring.
<a href="https://images.e