Mobile photo  Kristel Vilbaste
Translation Liis

Photographed on Saturday night in Kütiorg. Glowworms this year keep to moist areas

Glowworm beetle      Jaanimardikas    Lampyris noctiluca

Only the female glowworms glow as we know – in order to signal their presence to the adult male glowworm, modestly brown-coloured, with soft wings and capable of flying. The glowworm species must be continued.

Photos Arne Ader
Translation Liis

Wood cow-wheat

Wood cow-wheat    Harilik härghein        Melampyrum nemorosum

The cow-wheat adds a many-coloured look to the Midsummer garland of nine flowers everywhere.

As its habitats we note the verges of forest roads or wooded meadows; the mass flowering of the bright yellow cow-wheats however comes in July.

It is often asked if the cow-wheat does not have purple flowers?

Photos Arne Ader and Urmas Tartes
Translation Liis

Striped shield bugs

Striped shield bug; Minstrel bug; Italian striped bug Triiplutikas      Graphosoma lineatum

No one who encounters the striped shield bug can have any doubt about its identity.

The bug is up to 1 ½ centimetres long, with a flat, wide body and no one else wears such a striped ”Vatican Swiss Guards uniform”.

Photos Arne Ader and Kaarel Kaisel
Translation Liis

Biting stonecrop

Biting stonecrop; Wallpepper   Harilik kukehari                Sedum acre

The biting stonecrop that is among our smaller plants flowers.

Despite its small size the stonecrops are well visible in dry heaths with a scanty flora. The stems of the plant stretch almost three times taller  during the flowering.

Photos Arne Ader
Translation Liis

Common ringed plovers

Common ringed plover   Liivatüll     Charadrius hiaticula

Elegant shore birds who live on the coast and the islands, nesting on the sand or gravel, in north-western Estonia in the gravel quarries.

Easy to recognize from appearance: top of head and back sand grey, a white patch on the base of the beak, eyes covered by black “mask”. The neck is ringed by a white band and the chest is decorated with a black shirt front. Beak orange with a black tip, legs also orange or yellowish.