another bug of gorse

...it was a beautiful sunny day, even if it was accompanied by an absolutely freezing wind. We went for two walks today, a longer one this morning at Studland, and a short one this afternoon at Durlston.

It is a long time since I can remember seeing the tide as high as it was at Studland Bay this morning. We walked up towards Shell Bay through Studland Heath and back along the thin strip of beach that had not been claimed by the sea. While walking back, it was a delight to see a pair of horses and riders cantering through the surf.

After lunch, we enjoyed more of a stroll on part of Round Down via Anvil Point.

It was our first outing that proved to be the most successful because, protected by the dunes, the heath was relatively sheltered. Consequently, there were plenty of red admirals and common darter dragonflies, lots of common wasps, a few ichneumons and this rather handsome Gorse Shieldbug, Piezodorus lituratus, which was, unsurprisingly, on a gorse bush. In addition to gorse, the larvae also feed on broom, dyer's greenweed and other plants in the Genisteae family. They have also been recored on laburnum and clovers. The adults have two colour forms. Those emerging and mating in the spring are predominantly green, while the late summer generation have purple-red markings on the pronotum and corium.

I am not looking forward to the reduced hours of daylight tomorrow afternoon...