20 Jan 2024: Hibernating shield bugs
There are not many insects to see at this time of year, but a young visitor spotted a Hawthorn Shield-bug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale) hibernating inside a rolled-up oak leaf.
The same day we also found another species of shield-bug which had been disturbed from its hiding place. This one is the Common Green Shield-bug (Palomena prasina) – it is green in summer but turns brown in winter so that it is more camouflaged among dead leaves.
Shield-bugs are named because their wings are hidden under wing covers which form a shield-like shape on their backs. They are “true” bugs in the sense of the word used for one particular group of insects by entomologists, who do not use the word “bug” to refer to just any old creepy-crawlie.
You can read more about shield bugs here: