Planthopper

A scorching day, part of which was spent lying on the lawn next to our large clump of Galingale, trying to photograph a tiny planthopper, just a couple of millimetres in length. It was quite hard to focus on them, particularly as my glasses kept steaming up and when I did spot one it would usually skedaddle round to the other side of the stem.

This planthopper was first caught by Alex, when he was suction sampling a site in Cambridge a couple of years ago. Pete identified it as Flastena fumipennis, a  European species that hadn't previously been recorded in the UK, though it may have been here for some time as it now seems to be in most stands of Galingale in the local area, including the one in our garden pond.