Ravening Hordes

I look forward to this moment, thought it does not happen every year. The Solomon's Seal flower in April/May and then hang around, feeding the summer sun's energy into their rhizomatous roots, until their leaves senesce at the end of summer. Unless, that is, this happens, in which case, in some years, the leaves become stripped skeletons within a matter of days

Most people with a smattering of biological knowledge remember that the Order of Hymenoptera includes wasps, bees and ants. However, like a forgotten cousin, the Order also includes Sawflies - many of which do look like wasps or bees, though they lack the distinctive 'waist' of those groups. Despite their relative obscurity, there are some 600 UK species, so they are not a minor sub-order. Some are better-known because they can be economically damaging, especially in forestry and horticulture

This is the pleasingly alliterative Solomon's Seal Sawfly - in its larval stage, of course. The adult is an unpreposessing small black fly, less than 10mm long. It is the larvae that have the drama of a science-fiction nightmare, appearing and feeding en masse and stripping foliage at an alarming rate. Luckily, they have a highly specialised diet, for they create the impression they would strip the world of green in a couple of days

The picture does not do a great job of showing that their soft, semi-transparent, blue-grey bodies are offset by a jet black face, like a regency masque, that adds to their somewhat macabre air. In practice, though they bring the plant's summer to a premature end, they do it lilltle lasting harm and it will spring from the ground again next March, ready to run the gauntlet again