Heather Beetle

What a day! In celebration of the first real day of warmth this year the dogs had an extra long walk. Not concerned, for once, about not getting lost, it seemed to be the right day to investigate expanses of heath I haven't ventured into. The area is fairly vast and my patience to retrace tracks isn't good when it's cold and wet.

I missed a shot of a snake basking in the sun and the few moths flitting around didn't settle nearby. I could have given you photos of gorse in glorious colour, the sunlit Silver Birch with Woodpeckers darting from tree to tree or the carpets of moss but, it had to be the Heather Beetle. Not the best photograph but I haven't blipped one before. It's not a beetle you really want to find.

The Heather Beetle, Lochmaea suturalis, is a lovely metallic gold/green colour and only 6mm long. In the UK they can be a serious pest. They live on Heather plants, feeding on the leaves.

I found only one today but they aren't that easy to spot unless you purposely look for them. When the temperatures are right, these tiny beetles can breed rapidly and strip huge areas of heathland bare. What could be worrying is that until today the weather has been too cold and it's not normal to find them so early in the year.

There are one or two parasitic wasps that prey on them but the most damage to their numbers is done by our little friend the ladybird.

Let's hope this one doesn't start an invasion.