Nature is confused by the weather patterns.

We are still in the late winter season, but the wildlife thinks that it is Spring.

This guy was having a nap in the late afternoon sun, and as I came a bit too close, he opened his eyes to give me an irritated look:)

It is a Praying Mantis (Mantodea), and it is said that they hatch in Spring. Not in winter, as they shouldn't be around in winter.

Let's see what Wikipedia has to say about it.

Mantises are an order of insects that contains over 2400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae. They are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. The mating season in temperate climates typically takes place in Autumn. In cooler climates, the adults lay eggs in Autumn, then die. The eggs are protected by their hard capsules and hatch in the Spring.

Source

As stated above, they hatch in Spring. This guy hatched about 2-3 weeks ago in winter.

So, he started to stand up, but I backed off to keep him calm.

I approached him from the other side of the leaf, and he still checked me out.

Whilst backing off, I saw a Cape Dwarf Gecko also catching some sunlight on the plant.

And finally, I left them in peace.

Now for something else here, that also made no sense.

The wife called me to come and see. Of all things there was a dragonfly on the wall in our back garden. I thought, it could not be, as this particular one only flies from October to April. Don't forget, we are still in winter, and spring season will only officially occur on the 1st of September. Most dragonflies only fly between September and May, so this is very odd.

She still looked very young. This looks like a Cape Skimmer (Orthetrum julia capicola).

A closer shot showed that she was well developed.

And after waiting for a while, I managed to get it in some better light.

So, now you will understand the title of this post, as I have shown you two insects that are not supposed to be here during our winter. A great concern is that the weatherman issued a warning of two new cold fronts on their way. The temperatures will drop sharply, and rain is also expected. The warning also stated that no small boats should go out, as there will be high waves and very strong wind gusts.

We can only hope and pray that the early arrivals will survive, but I can tell you that it will be very unlikely, as they are totally out of season. How sad is that? As a dragonfly, they have such a short lifespan already, and now with the bad weather coming, it is going to be very, very difficult for the mantis and the dragonfly to survive. All this, because of the confusion in nature due to the strange weather patterns.
Such is life.

The dragonfly specie was determined in our book: A Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of South Africa. ISBN: 978-1-77584-184-5.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

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