A lovely morning for a walk and I thought that’s all it might be until I turned over a bramble leaf and found two insects and a spider within inches of each over. They were a Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis), two adult Birch Catkin Bug (Kleidocerys resedae) and a well-camouflaged female Green Crab Spider (Diaea dorsata).

The last time I saw Birch Catkin Bug was 4 years ago and then it was only a nymph, so these are the first adults I have seen.

I also came across the long abandoned fluffy white egg sacs of Cottony Hydrangea Scale (Pulvinaria kuwacola) on a dogwood. These were previously seen in the last week of June on several sycamore trees, but this scale insect utilises many trees and shrubs, including both sycamore and dogwood.

Apart from some of the holly, which are sporting some very impressive clusters of berries, the next most prominent berry-bearing shrub right now is Wall Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster horizontalis). This is an introduced Asian species that has become naturalised in parts of the UK and which I have found at three places on the Downs.

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