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Thursday 27 August 2020

More interesting discoveries at home

Have you ever heard of a Southern Gatekeeper? No, me neither! I only discovered recently that they exist. I knew there was a Spanish Gatekeeper, which I'd seen once before in the Pyrenees Orientales near to the Spanish border. I thought then that I was seeing this butterfly in my garden, but having a look through my butterfly book I realised that I had in fact been seeing the Southern Gatekeeper, along with the regular Gatekeeper. There isn't a huge difference in how they look, other than the male Southern Gatekeeper has sex brands on the topside of its forewing, and underneath they lack the small spots that the regular Gatekeeper has. There's also a bit more of a Y shape in the pale coloration underneath. There's a side by side picture on Wikipedia here showing the difference in the underwing pattern between the two species.

You can clearly see the sex brand markings on the forewing above.

The underwing showing a slight Y shape in a pale white colour, and no spots.

The next discovery was really exciting! We had seen Praying Mantises in Provence a few years ago, but I was very surprised to discover one when I was deadheading the geraniums. I'm really finding some goodies in the flower pots around the pool - a wasp spider, Geranium Bronze butterflies, and a praying mantis - you wouldn't expect so much interesting wildlife there, would you?!! Wonder what will be next.... 😀

The following photos were taken with Keith's phone, which was the nearest thing to hand....

European Mantis (Mantis religiosa)

You can really see how well camouflaged they are as they are identical in colour to the leaves! K was amazed that I had even found it, but it moved, which is how I noticed it. It's worth clicking on the individual images to view them a bit closer, as they have an extremely scary alien-like head and eyes, and terrifying front legs (imagine being their prey, or indeed, their mate!).

A few days ago K spotted this crab spider on the tiles in our covered patio area. When I went out with my camera, it of course started to walk, so there I was on my knees, bum in the air, crawling along with it trying to get some decent shots. 😀

It walked along to the drain that runs along the patio stones beside the pool area, and took shelter beneath one of the metal rails. I could still see it though!

It's Heriaeus hirtus, a member of the Thomisidae family of crab spiders. Hirtus means hairy in Latin!

Last but not least, a Hoopoe flew into our neighbour's garden, which was wonderful to see. K had seen a few before but I missed them, so this is the first one I have seen since moving here! I was hoping to see more. Never mind, we have seen Bee-eaters in the vicinity of our village several times, so I'm not too upset. It's bloody brilliant living here! 

(Credit for these photos goes to Keith, who took them through the kitchen window).

Talking of loving it here, we really do. I just love everything, love my new house, love the easy to manage garden, the pool (of course!) and the view. And love, love, LOVE living in the south of France! There is just SO much to explore here. It will take us years to explore just our own department, never mind the neighbouring depts. There's the Pyrenees, the Montagne Noir, the Haut Languedoc mountains, the Corbieres hills, the coastal area... and in normal times there is nearby Spain too! And of course the fauna and flora, so much of which is different. I feel so much better depression wise and feel joy again often. Life is good. 

18 comments:

  1. Wonderful photos and so lovely to hear how happy you are living down south. x

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    1. Thanks very much Sandra. I did love Brittany too, until the cancer/depression. Though where we lived wasn't the best place for birding and it was 2 hours drive to the Gulf of Morbihan which was our favourite birding area. xx

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  2. Like the pics Mandy..... Hoopoe from the kitchen window.... not jealous at all! Good to see you are loving the move and your house and the pool, sounds great.

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    1. Oh just wait until a bee-eater or roller land in the garden..... lol. Still waiting on seeing a roller down here - saw a glimpse of one in Spain a few years ago but that's all. Anyway thanks Ian. Hope all is well with you? Survived lockdown?

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    2. Thanks Mandy all good lockdown was fine, we just did a 2 week trip to France (first this year) all good and house fine apart from overgrown garden, been back in UK a week and now in quarantine, one more week to go.

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    3. Hi Ian, sorry for delay replying. Did you know about the quarantine before you left or it happened whilst you were away? If you don't have to go to work then I can't see it being too much of a problem staying home for 2 weeks! At least you got away. :-)

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  3. Bee eaters, Hoopoes and new butterflies whatever next.
    After what you have been through Mandy, you deserve to live in a nice area with lots of nature to see. Good on yu mate.:)

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    1. Hopefully a Bluethroat and a Dartford Warbler :-)
      Thanks very much Roy. You are right, I do deserve it! Keith too, poor guy, what he has to put up with ;-)

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  4. Well this update is chock full of goodies isn't it Mandy!

    I especially love the mantis because I have only ever encountered them on my visits to California.
    I have to say that rather than being scary, I found them to be enchanting and inquisitive insects. Admitted, they do have something of a stare! 😊

    Not heard of that hirsute spider so will look that one up.

    Your enthusiasm for life seems to have returned thankfully, and my very favourite quote from this update?

    "I bloody love living here" ❤

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    1. Hi again JJ! It's lovely to be in touch again, I really hadn't realised how many years it has been. It's noticeable on the sidebar where my total blog posts for the last few years has been one or two posts per year.... Anyway, I'm not going to count my chickens before they are hatched (don't keep them any more anyway!) but I am enjoying for now having the interest and zest to blog (and photograph) again. Your last comment made me break into a big grin. Cheers! :-)

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  5. Fantastic that you are enjoying living there so much, very envious of your pool.
    I tried to post comments on your last few blog posts but it wouldn't let me!
    Hope this works. Philippa x

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    1. Hi Philippa! I do think about you and keep thinking I should send you an email, but I'm a bit rubbish at keeping in touch with anyone these days. I still haven't sent my friends my new address yet - but what a sign of the times, only a couple of people asked for it for Xmas cards, shows we barely need a real address in this virtual social world!

      Yeah I bet you would love a pool, I know you like swimming. It's really good exercise, I have realised that, and do a lot of exercises under water that I couldn't do above it.

      You aren't the only one who has had problems with this silly blogging website, trying to comment! Thanks so much and I hope all is well with you and your family. xx

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    2. All good here Mandy, enjoying Devon luckily as we haven't been to France since the end of February. We found someone to cut all our grass twice a month since May, he only charges 60 euros for doing the whole lot so a bargain. We will try and get over in October if possible.
      Am now back to swimming 5 days a week, I missed it terribly when the pool was closed.
      Maybe we can get to meet up some time in the future.
      Take care
      Philippa x

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    3. Oh for god's sake, I just lost all that I wrote! Well, I was saying that you put me to shame as I probably only swim about once a week, I am a complete wuss and like my pool nice and warm (32C)! Great that you found someone to look after all your grass, saves you worrying from afar.

      If you want to meet up you will have to come further south than La Rochelle! You really should venture south, it is so beautiful in the Languedoc Roussillon. xx

      (Just discovered it was the preview button, it deleted my post!!)

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  6. So pleased to hear how much better you feel and how much you love your new house and area. Wonderful photos and I am so envious of the Praying Mantis and Hoopoe! We were rewatching a dvd recently of an old film called Microcosmos about wildlife in a meadow (in France I think) which has some wonderful footage of insects including praying mantis! So glad you are blogging again and I really enjoy reading about your new life and wildlife :)

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    1. Hi Caroline and thanks for the lovely comment. I am enjoying blogging and also catching up with blogging friends and what they are up to! I now need to think about my next post. We have been getting out about once a week now exploring which we are really enjoying. A bit late for seeing many birds as it's not so easy once they stop singing, I always find they seem to disappear! But there are bugs and butterflies aplenty, and the views here make up for any lack of wildlife (or wildflowers, as it's rather dry at this time of year). xx

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  7. Way down south here in my garden - your green spider would be an Oxytate

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    1. I had a look at them - the Wikipedia entries all had longer bodies. Groovy though!

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