Now onto other insects. Again, I didn't find too many insects in the Camargue area. I found this Praying Mantis nymph in the hotel garden, no idea which species but I possibly found a more developed one in La Crau a bit later.
Also, a few of these very brightly coloured beetles on flowers by the hotel. They were roughly 20mm long, and spent a lot of time flying. I thought because of the colours they might be easy to id but then when I got to La Crau I found almost identical but slightly differently coloured beetles, so it looks like it's not going to be easy.
In La Crau however, it really was insect paradise. Everywhere you stepped clouds of large grasshoppers flew up. I think I may have found one of the large Crickets which are endemic to La Crau, but I didn't manage a photo unfortunately. When I got out the car at the beginning this large green Praying Mantis appeared on my bag, I think it may be a further developed one of the mantis I found at the hotel as it's got a similar shape. It was the biggest mantis I've ever managed to find, although looking at the lack of wings it still doesn't appear to be an adult.
Also in La Crau there were a few of these huge Ant Lions, they were very interesting creatures, like a cross between a lacewing and a dragonfly and they had a strange fluttery flight. They must've been about 70mm long. with very large wings.
Other insects around were a few Cicadas in the more urban areas with trees. I found some interesting elongated Grasshoppers that I've seen elsewhere in the mediterranean. There was a huge redish Beetle by the hotel, maybe a dor beetle type of thing, I saw a similar one in the insect collection in the museum at La Crau, but didn't think to get the name of it. I found a Fire Bug (or maybe a similar species) in the hotel garden, and down on the sand dunes there were interesting black Bugs with a white diamond at the rear end which seemed to live digging in the dunes. In Les Alpilles I found a couple of huge winged Crickets but unfortunately they were too quick for me to get a photo.
For other invertebrates there were a couple of Wasp Spiders, a very large (and quite scary) Spider on the steps entering the hide at La Crau which looked like a cross between a House Spider and a Nursery Web Spider. There were a few Masked Crabs down by the beach. I tried but failed to find a Scorpion in La Crau.