Author: David

Cassis, another Mediterranean resort along the coast from Marseille. Outside the town the predominantly limestone geology forms the miniature fjord-like warm water calanques along the shoreline towards the city, while inland there’s an extensive limestone plateau. The entire area is now a designated nature conservation area, with many species threatened by over tourism, forest and scrub wildfires.

But even in the bustle of the town itself, there’s wildlife spotting opportunities. A small park has lots of of exotic trees. A pool is home to terrapins and mallards. These palm moths were among the other insects which were also attracted to the area.

Another picture I’ve dug up from a dozen years ago. Bandol is one of the Mediterranean resorts a little along the coast from Marseille. This butterfly is a

Lang’s Short-tailed Blue (Leptotes pirithous) according to iNaturalist.

From a summer a while ago (2010 to be precise) a lizard sunning itself on a garden wall on Capri. The only human disturbance was from occasional walkers, so the lizard wasn’t worried as we went by.

A false puffball growing on the remaining stump of a tree which was felled a few years ago. False puffballs are one of the commoner (more easily noticed) of slime moulds.

According to Wikipedia, false puffballs are gathered to be eaten growing wild in parts of Mexico and Ecuador.

On the same lawn as a mushroom spotted a few weeks earlier, and possibly another fruiting body sent up by the same underground network, some kind of boletes, already well nibbled.

A scarlet tiger moth at rest – no scarlet showing on its folded wings – clinging on to a leaf.