Black Squirrel and Poland Firebug

After some more DIY this morning, we took Granddog Oona out for a walk this afternoon. She spotted (and tried unsuccessfully to chase!) a large number of grey and black squirrels, but she did give me the opportunity to grab a quick shot of this black one looking rather cute.

Later on our walk my Editor spotted a large number of insects crawling on the pavement (sidewalk) at one point - and they were certainly novel to us (see the extra). Google Lens identified them as Poland Firebugs, aka Pyrrhocoris Apterus. According to Wikipedia they're found from the Atlantic coast of Europe to Northwest China, but also in North & Central America, India and Australia. They've also been seen in the UK - but they're new to us!

NB. Don't forget: Tomorrow is October's hosted Silly Saturday, in memory of course of Admirer. Please see if you can blip something funny, daft or just plain stupid - something which would have made Admirer chuckle. I'll be hosting myself this time so my Editor and I are looking forward to a good laugh! The tags will be SilSOct2022 or SilS313.