Festive
This is a late end to a slightly crazy but ultimately satisfying day. We had the tree surgeon here for nine hours, cutting back the huge laurel in the centre of the top garden which has been making a stealthy … Continued
Wrinkled Peach
Armed with information from my friend RC who works there, I went to Croome today to look for fungi, and spent several happy hours fossicking around in the shrubbery. I was only asked once if I needed any assistance, which … Continued
Double trouble
It seems to have been an especially good year in our garden for 22-spot ladybirds: a single tap on a small section of one of the honeysuckles this afternoon dislodged four into my net. I carefully replaced them, one at … Continued
Prehistoric
It’s been perplexing me for a while now that, while I can always find leafhoppers when I do my garden mini-beast safaris, I’d never once spotted a planthopper. Today I broke my duck with three tiny (sub-3mm) Issus coleoptratus nymphs, … Continued
Incarnadine
Pantilius tunicatus is a late season mirid bug. Most members of this family are sap suckers, though a few are predatory, and they tend to be known colloquially as plant bugs. Some species cause serious damage to commercial crops and … Continued
