Yesterday evening, after spending an hour or so in the meadow in between the villages of Shishan and Valtura, six or seven kilometers inland from where I live, I drove back home, sat in front of my computer, and started thinking about a quick post that can tell something about those evening moments and what I found in the quiet rural corner, so different from the crowded streets and beaches of Medulin, my hometown by the sea.

I was walking up and down along the wall of dense, intricate vegetation at the edge of the open grassland, busy observing what was going on around the shrubs in bloom. Although I saw and photographed some other insects too, the post will be mainly about the moths. Three moths that I encountered just before dark. In the opening photograph above ...

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... and in this triptych that follows, you can see the Dysauxes famula, a species from the Erebidae family. I encountered this moth many times before, but never like this. I never saw this species feeding.

All the Dysauxes famula I photographed before were quietly resting on vegetation, in shady places under the shrubs or trees. In this post, the moth is enjoying the nectar of the Clematis vitalba flowers.

Clematis vitalba, commonly known as the Old Man's Beard, is a climbing plant that often covers long stretches of shrubs and small trees on the edge of the meadows. It produces plenty of nectar-rich flowers in summer, so you can always find some action around this plant. Very soon, another moth entered the scene.

This is the Amata phegea. The family is also Erebidae. Here you can see the male of the species.

Amata phegea it's a diurnal species, so when I drove home as the evening was turning into night, this moth has finished its dinner. Evening moments are great for observing insects because you can find diurnal and nocturnal species in one place. These moments after sunset and just before dark don't last long, and that makes them even more precious.🙂The absence of the daytime heat also makes them highly enjoyable. Some of my happiest summer memories are related to the evenings with crickets singing in the background.

For the Dysauxes famula, the evening is the time to get active after a long day of resting in the shade.

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On the nearby flowers of the Rubus ulmifolius blackberry ...

... I found another Amata phegea.

A female this time.

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While I was busy photographing this relatively large, more or less medium-sized moth ...

... a much smaller one landed on one of the blackberry flowers. This is the Choreutis nemorana. The family is Choreutidae. These moths are diurnal. With many diurnal and nocturnal species around, and many shapes and colors on display, there is always some interesting moth ready to be photographed here in my area, so I spend plenty of time with these insects. With the following photograph ...

... the focus is on the Clematis vitalba flowers again. The main protagonist is the male Maniola jurtina butterfly, but you can also see the Amata phegea moth, slightly blurred in the background.

When I was ready to go home, before leaving the flowers and insects, I caught two small bees feeding on Clematis vitalba. These are the Lasioglossum malachurum, eusocial bees from the Halictidae family.

The period between the end of a long summer day and the arrival of the much shorter night doesn't last long, so this post can't go on for hours. 😀

It has to end here. With one last look at some of the insects and flowers.

AND THAT'S IT. AS ALWAYS IN THESE POSTS ON HIVE, THE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE MY WORK - THE END.