Not common

When I found a pair of asparagus beetles in cop on my wild asparagus a few days ago, I was delighted with them, and offended on their behalf to discover that they're regarded as common. There is, I read, another beetle - orange, with twelve black spots - which also attacks asparagus, but though it's widespread in continental Europe, it has never become established in the UK.

Ta-da!

I've been keeping an eye on the asparagus since finding that first pair, and I've seen plenty more of them (usually bonking in pairs, or indulging in tiny orgies, in what I have to admit is a very common fashion) - but today I spotted this little guy and gave a little whoop of triumph, because I instantly knew what he was. I say 'he', but with only one of him present, I actually have no idea of the sex - but anyway. He's pretty dapper, I think, in his orange and black livery, and with those interesting eyes that some beetles have, which curve around the antennal insertions. He's about 6mm long, so a bit of a challenge to photograph on wafting asparagus, but in my opinion well worth the effort.

If you look up asparagus beetles on line, 90-something percent of the hits will tell you how best to get rid of them, but most of those sites concentrate on the Common Asparagus Beetle, which is the more serious pest: both adults and larvae will eat young shoots and leaves to the point of completely defoliating a plant, and females lay their eggs all over the developing spears, rendering them unusable. The Twelve-spotted Asparagus Beetle is regarded as somewhat less pestiferous because its larvae only eat the asparagus berries, though the adults themselves do eat young foliage and shoots.

Late this afternoon R spotted a Large Red Damselfly nymph marching up an iris leaf in the wildlife pond, and I managed - at the expense of wet and muddy knees and elbows - to photograph most of its emergence. I've posted the photos to my Facebook page, if you'd like to see them.