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
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
Sad frog face
This is the pick of the leafhoppers I found in the garden today. It’s about 5-6mm long, and glories in the name Lamprotettix nitidulus. Despite extensive searches I haven’t been able to find out anything else about it, beyond the … Continued