friend or foe

[nosferato]

found this the other day .. any ideas??

[Two_Sheds]

das ist eine Shield Bug. They feed by sucking sap from a wide range of plants but generally cause no noticeable damage to cultivated plants, even when numerous. http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile...shield_bug.asp

[Snadger]

Doesn't matter whether it was a foe or not...........I don't think I could persuade myself to kill something as unique looking as that!

[scarey55]

There are loads of them here and they make the most fearful buzzing noise when they fly past your ear. Apparently they are also known as stink bugs because if you kill them they, well... stink. Haven't had first hand experionce though. Like you, Snadger, I couldn't kill one either.

[rustylady]

Green shield bug - no problem, and quite beautiful in a strange sort of way. Never heard them buzzing though scarey - are you sure you're not thinking of July Bugs? Actually, having typed that I haven't seen any of them this year and it's now September. Big horrid unsquashable things (I think they're cockchafers) Anyone else seen any?

[Hazel at the Hill]

Yep - saw one in about May in the garden. Had to go and hide behind the sofa.

[Jardiniere]

We have loads of these too.....sometimes I find dead ones in the house that are a beautiful gold colour ...like flying jewelry...but they make one hell of a row when they fly about (as scarey said) the live ones that is.... i shoosh them out cos they are annoying....dont seem to do much harm in the garden tho.
talking of insects - does anyone have humming bird moths?
we have them here and they are absolutely incredible......

[scarey55]

We have them here (Humming bird Hawk moths) You're right, they are incredible. They usually catch my attention 'cause they are about the same size as hornets If you look on our website www.beaugut.com there is a picture of one that we saw last year on the wildlife page. Difficult to photograph in flight though.

[Nicos]

We have them here (Humming bird Hawk moths) You're right, they are incredible. They usually catch my attention 'cause they are about the same size as hornets If you look on our website www.beaugut.com there is a picture of one that we saw last year on the wildlife page. Difficult to photograph in flight though.

Think they are different ....but an interesting site!!!

[scarey55]

Think they are different ....but an interesting site!!!

Thank you Nicos,
I've just realised that both Shield bugs and Hummingbird hawk moths are on the site - probably quite confusing

[Two_Sheds]

Chafer bug

Yep - saw one in about May in the garden. Had to go and hide behind the sofa.

I think people are meaning cockchafers a.k.a. Maybug, Junebug. Big ole things with noisy hard wingcases. I think Shield bugs are pretty much silent... and small, barely little toe-nail size

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?im...3D10%26hl%3Den

(big link, how do I reduce that down a bit?)