15 Oct 2023

15 Oct 23 - Shieldbugs & Bush Crickets At St Aldhelms

During a quiet five minutes at St Aldhelms, Phil Saunders & I had a quick look at the coastguards lookout wall, as it is an invertebrate hotspot. The white walls radiate the sun and there is a nice vegetated base to the wall. There was a Grey Bush Cricket on the wall, but they are very twitchy and not for the first time for this species, it disappeared into the vegetation as soon as we got close. But there was a Dark Bush Cricket and a Boat Bug, which are species that are a lot more tolerant of a close approach with a camera.
Dark Bush Cricket & Boat Bug Enoplops scapha: Dark Bush Crickets are a common Bush Cricket in the Isle of Purbeck. Boat Bugs are common & widespread Shieldbug of dry, sunny & sheltered areas with sparse vegetation, especially sandhills and cliff faces on the Southern coasts from Kent to Pembrokeshire
Even better from my viewpoint, was there were two Brassica Bugs. These are another species of Shieldbug & they were a Tick for me.
Brassica Bug: Adult & Instar (immature)