A glimpse of a European summer

While in Germany this visit, I did not have much opportunity to get a lot of nature shots.

My lens was turned towards architecture and landscape this time.

You can see the results of that endeavour on my Facebook site.

(There is a link on the left hand side of this post)

I did glimpse a moment or two, such as these pictured below.

Firstly, a large land snail laying its eggs.

At just under 50mm across the shell, its eggs were just under pea sized objects.

 Then there was this strange critter.

I am yet to identify it, though I saw empty shells left behind once it had metamorphosed.

Into what, I'm yet to determine also.  

This was a little easier to ID.

It is, of course, a hedgehog.

Sadly I wasn't able to photograph a family, which makes a rather cute photo I'm told.

 I was able to capture this Hover Fly laying eggs though.

As well as these snails in the act of hermaphroditic reproduction

I was amazed at the number and range of small insects I had never encountered before.

So much so, I would like to thank Bridget and Ralph for he identification book they gave me.

Still looking for this one.

This is definitely an ant.

I was not aware that Hover Flies eat pollen, though they do.

Some things are constant though, such as the beetle attacks experienced over the summer months.

Just before dark, for about half an hour, masses of small beetles crowd the air.

They gather in ever growing clusters until the mass of the group is too much and they fall to the ground, only to resume this behaviour again.

Soon they are gone for the night, around the time bats come out and begin the hunt for them.

A most interesting spectacle indeed.