Green Shield Bugs in the Glorious Gorse

Crafty Green Boyfriend and I had a lunchtime walk round Corstorphine Hill today. What a beautiful spring day, the gorse looks amazing

and when we looked deeply into the coconut scented bushes we saw lots of wonderful things including our first honey bees of the year

and lots of common green shieldbugs! I have a particular fondness for shield bugs and they're usually very elusive, so it was really nice to see them all today.

There are several species of shieldbug in the UK and they all go through several stages of development, looking very different at each stage. You can find out more on the British Bugs website.

It was also lovely to see the ash tree flowers opening up

and to hear a green woodpecker laughing in the trees, though we didn't see it at all.

I still have more photos from our trip to Dumfries and Galloway and I may share more of them in the next few days....