The stripy Rosemary Beetle (Chrysolina americana, #509) is (yet) another imported garden pest. Native to the Mdditerranean region (despite its Latin name), it didn’t arrive in UK until the 1990’s, but has now spread quite far from the London area where it initially colonised. I didn’t see any in the garden last summer, but this week there are a few of them munching the flowers on the lavender. I didn’t see them on the nearby lavender, which seems to be dying anyway - but probably not for beetle-related reasons. The beetles are very smart with their green & purple stripes, so I don’t begrudge them some lavender flowers - perhaps that will change though if they reach epidemic numbers.

The other colourful beetle is a Nettle Weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus), which I couldn’t resist posting even though it was not in the garden. They do lose their colour, becoming almost black, but this one was a particularly bright one on a bright sunny day by the River Severn near Ashleworth Ham Nature Reserve.