Common Green Shield Bug

I haven't seen many of these shield bugs around this year. They are commonly known as stink bugs and if you've ever ironed one hiding in your clothes, you know why! They can also leave an obnoxious trail as they crawl over fruit and vegetables and in large numbers, can spoil crops. The foul smelling liquid is produced from glands in their thoraxes and is released when disturbed. It doesn't wash out easily!

Shield bugs are true bugs that don't go through a caterpillar or worm like larval stage. Instead, they go through a process called hemimetabolous development. I'll forgive you not remembering that bit!
Their eggs hatch into wingless nymphs which go through 5 diverse shape and colour transformations, moulting their skin between each, until they finally become adults with wings. It is fairly easy to identify all the species of UK shield bugs throughout their entire transformation. This is a first stage nymph of the Common Green Shield bug, Palomena prasina. Their colour is their camouflage and the adults of these bugs have the ability to darken from bright green in the spring to almost brown in the autumn when the leaves turn.

Sheild bugs are specialists in sucking the sap from plants and this species, although found on a variety of shrubs is found for preference on Hazel. This one was on my Mexican Hats, Ratibida columnifera, which incidentally have lost all the typical red in their petals in their second year, and there is quite a distance between my border and the nearest Hazel copse.