Predation

 Modern European Homo sapiens has largely lost the ability to go out into the wild to feed himself and his family. The use of his hunter-gatherer skills are pretty much confined to pushing a trolley up and down the aisles of the local supermarket.

However, in the wider natural world, the battle to survive is never ending and the contest between predator and prey is played out everywhere. The predator must eat to survive and the prey species must stay alert to avoid being eaten.

When I am out in the field, I regularly happen upon such survival dramas and I have put together some images from my photo-library.

Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus)

This is the top avian predator that you are most likely to see in action in a suburban garden.

The first three images are of a female feeding on a House Sparrow catch and the last two images are of a male feeding on a Goldfinch catch.

Invertebrate predators adopt many different strategies for catching prey. The top predators are probably dragonflies and spiders but many other invertebrates are efficient hunters.

Hairy Dragonfly (Brachytron pratense)

Male devouring a bee.

Hairy Dragonfly (B. pratense)

This female has caught a beetle and she is happily laying on her back as she grapples with her prey.

Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis)

Male devouring a Meadow Brown butterfly.

Kite-tailed Robberfly (Machimus atricapillus)

Devouring a male Common Blue butterfly.

A mating pair of a Robberfly sp. with Hoverfly catch.

Crab Spider sp. (Misumena vatia)

Crab Spiders are ambush specialists and lay in wait on flower heads for their prey to arrive. They are able to change colour to match their background.

The first image shows a white vatia that has caught a Small White butterfly and the second image shows a yellow vatia laying in wait on a flowerhead (left) as a Small Copper butterfly nectars on a neighbouring flowerhead.

Jumping Spider sp. (Evarcha falcata)

Jumping Spiders will stalk their prey. In the following images this falcata has caught the female of a mating pair of Speckled Yellow moths. The male moth eventually disengages from the doomed female.

Devil's Coach-horse Beetle (Ocypus olens)

This beetle is a voracious predator. This one has caught a species of Ground Beetle and is in the process of dismembering the elytra of its seemingly doomed prey. During the struggle, they both fell from the tree trunk they were on and separated on impact with the ground. Battle was not rejoined.

Wasp Spider (Argiope bruennichi)

The female Wasp Spider usually constructs her web amongst long grass and her prey consists mostly of Grasshoppers.

Spiked Shieldbug (Picromerus bidens)

Shieldbugs have sucking mouthparts and mainly prey on caterpillars. In the following image, two Shieldbugs, one of which is mating, are feeding on the larva of a Knot Grass moth.