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pot just outside the front door had been nibbled. We get lily beetles occasionally but when I bent down to pick up this red insect it turned out to be a striking black and red plant bug and not a beetle at all (see pic). Corizus hyoscyami doesn't have

much rather take easy pickings.It is an oft-forgotten rule, but the answer to the question 'what do carnivores eat?' is not 'meat' or 'other animal', but 'whatever they can get'. But this does not mean they are constantly on the ferocious hunt for prey

I'm a very hands-on sort of naturalist. If I can, I pick up whatever it is I've found to have a closer look. With insects, getting a closer look is very often a question of grabbing at something that moves very quickly, and only then discovering

, distinctly curled at the ends.Even though I ‘know’ the males are harmless, it takes a real effort of will to pick one up in my bare fingers. Wasp stings are adapted from part of the egg-laying tube so only females (queens and workers) have them. Nevertheless

At 11 o'clock in the morning, the bowl of Bob-the-Builder pasta shapes was either a late second breakfast, or an early first lunch - whatever, it was interrupted by the announcement from nearly-three-year-old: "Look, there's a magpie". Sure enough

that had, until recently, held the squirrels' peanuts. Everyone thought this was pretty cool until 12-year-old held it and remarked "what's this wormy thing?" It was a tiny leech, only about 15mm long, squirming over her hand. I was fascinated and tried

are our best crop and the children especially like picking them. So when I first spotted all the flowers I knew we were in for a bumper yield this year.But two weeks later when I called in to see what was on offer I was met with bare stalks. Not one berry

Monday morning and a jay visited the kitchen window. I always think these are incredibly handsome birds and the small blue wing feathers still give me a childish thrill when I find one dropped. I can't resist picking it up to stick in my hat

by the snow.I regularly find queen wasps curled up, with their wings folded and tucked down underneath their bodies. With metabolism turned down to barely tick-over, they are immobile and can be closely examined (but not picked up) without risk of startling

hibernation now are mostly green, but the summer form has vague reddish brown patches across its back. It too has a slight smell of mouldy almonds, especially if picked up; these are the bitter-tasting cyanide compounds used by shieldbugs to deter predators