Hairy Shieldbug

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“Roses? Eat your roses…..? The thought never crossed my mind, and frankly, I’m offended. I’m just sitting here, on this dead-nettle, minding my own business, with not a thought in my head of those delicious young rose shoots just over there. If anyone eats your roses, I assure you it won’t be me.”

She was actually leaning in the direction of one of my roses with her little stripy antennae quivering in anticipation, the baggage. It’s lucky for her I’m not a dedicated gardener, or some kind of spray would have come out toot sweet. As it was, I simply reached for the camera.

BikerBear has declared this to be Flower Friday with a twist – the twist being that the flower should be white. I’ve taken it just that little bit further and made mine white bokeh,  but hey – it’s the taking part that counts, right? – and if you narrow your eyes enough you should just be able to make out the lamium flower. I do recommend lamium by the way – it makes good ground cover, and bees adore the stuff: I’d been photographing a Common Carder on this plant a couple of seconds before I spotted the shieldbug. You can also get it in pink – and if you’re really posh like what I am, you can even get a pink one with variegated leaves.

I’ve put in an extra today – a new (to me) species of hoverfly called Leucozona lucorum. It was extremely skittish and I had to stalk it for ages before it came to rest on this leaf, so I was delighted to get a handful of decent shots, of which the one I’m posting is R’s favourite.

160506 06 Leucozona lucorum