Pale clouded yellow butterfly, pictures taken with a Nikin D5500.
(c) K Wicks
Pale Clouded Yellow Butterfly
macro
Conehead Mantis – large
This was a real treat and I still don’t really know how my husband spotted it.
But there it was, aware of us too and seemingly wanting to start making a getaway.
But i managed to follow him around for a few minutes and see what a strange creature he really, even compared to the other mantises I had seen.
Goes down as one of the most alien creatures I have ever seen.
(c) K Wicks
Summer spiders 2020
There haven’t been many of late since the cold weather moved in, but in the summer we had lots of different spiders. Here are a few I managed to capture, they don’t hang around!
(c) K Wicks
Psammodromus Lizard
I miss these little guys when I go back through my pictures. Lizards were everywhere in Spain as well as geckos and other wildlife. This is a Psammodromus lizard, with it’s colourful stripe easy to identify.
Their tails and underbelly turns bright orange when they are in mating season.
They are so cool.
(c) K Wicks
Butterfly #1
I have no idea what type of butterfly this is as I only managed to take a picture with it’s wings closed, despite it being taken at a butterfly farm! I have looked through the pages of options and nothing fits so far. There will be more to come, but this is one of my favourite pictures, in fact I think they all are 😉
(c) K Wicks
Magpie moth
This is a small magpie moth. I have been taking pictures of insects for ages but didn’t always find the time to name them. Now have found a bit of time to go back through and find old pics to try and identify them. This one is from 2015.
(c) K Wicks
Wild Orchids (Spain)
Out on one of our walks in Spain, we stumbled across these orchids up in the hills. I was so excited to find not just one wild orchid type, but three! I have found a few wild orchids in the UK while out walking the dogs but never with a camera in hand. Spain however is vastly different, wildlife and insects literally just lying around. Sometimes I figured it was just too hot to do anything, for them included. Which was great for photo opportunities (hence the abundance of photos I have from spending just two years there). But these were a real treat to see.
(c) K Wicks
European Mantis – Brown
Here is the next installment of mantis for you, the pale brown sandy coloured European mantis. This was the one we saw the most of, despite it blending in so well. Once you get used to spotting them my eyes would pick them out. Even seeing them when they weren’t actually there, lots of sticks and grasses got mistaken for one at first. All photos taken with my Nikon D5500.
They are very delicate and graceful, wonderful to watch.
They also have rather large wings tucked in neatly behind them, which completely freaked me out the first time one flew as I didn’t know. However much I like photographing nature, I still jump out of my skin when one of them does something unexpected.
And even weirder than I first thought, their eyes turn purple at night. Very cool.
(c) K Wicks
Grandaisy Red
A beautiful addition to my garden last year.
(c) K Wicks
Daffodils
Beautiful and bright flowers, reminds me of my birthday being in the Spring so I always get excited when I see them. My grandparents used to have a meadow nearby which in the spring was covered in daffodils and summer covered in bluebells so they represent happy times. I can definitely see my love of nature started very young.
(c) K Wicks
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