A beautiful damsel in a lovely spot!

The Beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo meridionalis)  is a European damselfy which likes small, fast flowing streams and rivers.  The female has a metallic greenish-bronze body and brown or russet coloured wings.  The male is even more striking with a metallic blueish-green body and blue wings.  The males were much more flighty than the females when I…

Sea Holly

Sea Holly is a common component of beach-dune ecosystems in Europe.  I love the subtle colour combination of spiky green leaves and the lilac-blue flowers.  This plant says to me: ‘You see I have a lovely soft, blue flower, but come too close and I will spike you!’.  Photographed in Galicia, Spain.

Flower of God

I came across this lovely flower on a grassy promontory on the eastern side of a beach (Playa de Esteiro) in Galicia, NW Spain.  It is a site above some cliffs, with lots of wild flowers. I had not come across this plant before, which was flowering in early July.  It took me a little while to…

An antlion ate my ice cream!

Well not really, but it’s a catchy title!  Antlions live in sandy places like beaches, and eat ants and other insects which have the misfortune to slip and fall into their steep-sided sand pits.  They might have a nibble at an ice cream!  The adults are more civilised and feed on pollen or nectar.  They…