Tag Archives: Dock bug

273/366 Dock bugs young and old

29 Tuesday Sep 2020

Posted by in insects

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

On recent sunny days, Dock bugs, both young and old, have been out basking in the sunshine.

200929 dock bug (1)

I often find them on Bramble leaves and, occasionally, on the berries, though, according to the British Bugs website (which also has a helpful chart showing their different stages of development), they don’t eat these (not surprisingly, their main food source is Dock, as well as other plants in the Polygonaceae family).

200929 dock bug (4)

Though their brown colour is quite obvious on Bramble leaves, that same non-descript colour and their ragged shape mean Dock bugs (Coreus marginatus) can be very inconspicuous. I only spotted the one below because it moved.

200929 dock bug (5)

123/365 A Bramble confection

03 Friday May 2019

Posted by in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, spring

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Ingredients: 1 patch of Bramble, lashings of sunshine, a tablespoon of warmth, a dash of Springtime
Method: Stand and stare
Result: Nursery web spider, Dock bug, hoverfly (Syrphus sp.), Speckled wood butterfly, Green shieldbug, bee species, another hoverfly (Eristalis sp.), Harlequin ladybird, and wasp (Vespula sp.).

Bugs are like buses

16 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by in insects, nature

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

I hadn’t seen any Dock bugs (Coreus marginatus) for a couple of months and then suddenly, at Cosmeston the other day, I saw 11 on one plant!

180816 dock bugs (3)

Now that I’ve read up on them, I understand the sightings gap: it seems adults mate and lay their eggs in the springtime, the nymphs munch away on dock and their other favourite plants for a couple of months and, by August, they have developed into new adults. And here they are …

Dock bug baby

05 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by in insects, nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

I blogged about the Dock bug (Coreus marginatus) back in October last year and mentioned then that, in common with most bugs, these mini-beasties go through five larval / nymph stages before they become adults, though I had only ever seen the adult bugs … until yesterday.

170905 Dock bug Late instar (1)

I was indulging in the odd mouthful of ripe blackberry as I wandered around Cathays Cemetery when my hand was stopped in its reach by the glare of this little critter. It obviously had its eye on the succulent ripeness of that very same blackberry and was certainly not going to be intimidated by any gigantic human hand reaching towards it. I relinquished the berry!

170905 Dock bug Late instar (2)

Random creatures of Barry

24 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by in insects, nature

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I spent a wonderful day on Saturday exploring and examining some of the town of Barry’s wilder green spaces with members of the Glamorgan Botany Group. But, of course, you can’t spend a whole day looking at plants without also seeing an awful lot of the critters that live on those plants and I admit to being a trifle distracted at times … by a sunshine-yellow Crab spider, by fluttering butterflies and buzzing hoverflies, by plentiful dock and shield bugs, by the sad sight of a dead Slow-worm. Some of the lovely old stone houses and churches we passed were pretty cool too!

Dedicated to the Dock bug

17 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by in insects, nature

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , ,

When the Dock bug found out that his cousin the Green shield bug had received a blog post all to himself, he was not amused. Was he not as lovely? Was he not as worthy of attention? Well, yes, angry little Dock bug, you most certainly are, so here is your moment in the spotlight!

161017-dock-bug-1

Coreus marginatus is the Dock bug’s scientific name, and he’s a largish (13-15mm), broadish, reddish-brownish sap-sucker. Luckily, his sap-sucking is restricted to the leaves of docks and sorrels so he’s not the pest that some other members of the squashbug (bugs on squash plants) family can be.

161017-dock-bug-2

Mr and Mrs Dock bug seek each other out in the springtime to create the new generation, then, once hatched, their offspring, like most True bugs, go through five nymph stages before emerging as adults from about August. I’ve only ever seen the adults, in the shrubs, bushes and hedgerows alongside many of my walking trails, but there are plenty around – three sitting close together on one sunny leaf just last week. As well as inhabiting much of southern Britain, the Dock bug can also be found throughout Europe, in many Asian countries and in parts of North Africa.