Handsome

I've finally solved the problem of eliminating those pesky burnt-out specular highlights from photos of Shieldbugs: shoot them in the dark! By the time you read this I will, of course, have copyrighted this clever technique, which I'm confident is going to make my fortune.

I've posted Hawthorn Shieldbugs so many times now that I'm not sure I have much left to say about them, but I find them irresistible as subjects because they're so big and handsome. Also - I cannot tell a lie - I was hardly spoiled for choice today, as I dodged in and out between the rain showers with the monopod and flash reflector I've repurposed as a beating tray and beater. 

This guy came out of one of the hazel trees in the wild garden, but I encouraged it off the tray onto a leaf of the nearby dogwood, because the light was fractionally better there. It took advantage of my camera battery running out and stomped off underneath the leaf, so once I'd installed a new battery I had to flip the shoot over to get my photo. The bug then went back onto the top of the leaf, so I let the shoot go back to normal and took a few more photos, at which point it said "ENOUGH!!!" and flew across the garden into one of the Norway maples. A red and green 1.5cm bug is quite an impressive sight when it flies, even in the Stygian gloom of a rainy woodland garden.

One of the nice things about Hawthorn Shieldbugs is that their nymphs are so variable - as you can see from the species page on British Bugs. They also have a long development period, from around May until October or even November, so there's still plenty of time to come across some. I recently found two - one a fourth instar, I think, and the other a final instar, on this same dogwood.

R: C5, D£.