Most beautiful
Some insect names are easier to remember than others, though for me almost all of them are easier to remember than the names of human beings. My heart sinks whenever someone hails me in the street, and not just because … Continued
Serendipity
R and I were invited to spend a day in the Cotswolds today with the extended Family B. We had a lovely day, with good company and chat, a very enjoyable family meal out in the sunny garden, and in … Continued
Shepherdess
Oh, hello! You’re a gorgeous big fat chap! Oh! Chappess…. sorry! You are mahoosive though – who have you been eating? I hope it wasn’t my hawthorn shieldbug – it was round about here that I last saw it… No … Continued
Serendipity
Having posted a hawthorn shieldbug yesterday, and talked about the difference between that and the birch shieldbug, I was pleased to find this little chap down in the wild garden this morning – especially as I hadn’t seen one for … Continued
Bug hunting
To be more accurate, I was beetle and bug hunting, these being the easiest invertebrates to find at this time of year. Beetles were thin on the ground today though, and especially thin up in the trees and bushes where … Continued
Interloper
This is the cuckoo in my shieldbug nursery – an analogy that promptly falls to the ground, I confess, because although it’s not yet fully grown it’s entirely independent. But anyway. I still have several dozen Woundwort Shieldbugs on the … Continued
Ready to pop
R and I are currently suffering acutely from Baby B’s cold. In fact we were both so ill by yesterday evening that we started to wonder if we might actually have Covid, so we took lateral flow tests (please don’t … Continued