Spicy

By this time of year I always feel that we've hit peak beetle and bug season, and today was notably buggy: apart from one Viburnum Beetle, the only things I found in the garden were bugs. This one was by far my favourite, partly for being the rarest here, and partly because it was the only one that presented itself more or less voluntarily for recording, and didn't have to be tapped out of its shelter into a net.

Cinnamon bugs are roughly a centimetre long, and pretty much unmistakeable, though they bear a superficial resemblance to the red and black Groundbugs, and to the very much rarer Firebug. They're Rhopalid bugs, and like almost all the members of this family they feed on the sap of various weeds - doing themselves a significant favour by attacking plants that aren't economically significant, and therefore not being regarded as pests.

Apart from its spiffy red and black markings, the things that make Corizus hyoscyami especially distinctive are its hairiness, its protuberant eyes, and the strongly marked veins in its wing membranes. It was historically rare and was considered to be a species of dry southern coastal grasslands, but in recent years it has spread dramatically, and can now turn up pretty much anywhere in England. It overwinters as an adult and breeds in the spring, with nymphs appearing during the summer and the new season adults arriving in August and September.

R: C5, D1.