Hirsute

26 Wednesday Aug 2026

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British shieldbugs, Dolycoris baccarum, hairy bugs, Hairy shieldbug, Hairy shieldbug 1st instar, Hairy shieldbug nymphs

Hirsute: adjective; covered with hair (from the Latin hirsūtus, meaning shaggy) (Collins Concise Dictionary).

Hirsute seems the perfect word to describe this little fellow, and its siblings. These are 1st instar nymphs (i.e. the first stage since hatching) of the Hairy shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarum), also known as the Sloe shieldbug, though I think you’ll agree that Hairy is the name that suits it best.

They become less hairy as they age, but even the adult bug is a little hairy. When I first spotted them, these tiny shieldbugs were staying very close to the eggs they had hatched from but, just a few days later, when I revisited, I found the eggs again but the bugs had all dispersed.

On Common fleabane: bugs and crickets

21 Friday Aug 2026

Posted by sconzani in nature

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Adelphocoris lineolatus, British bugs, British crickets, Common fleabane, Common froghopper, Conocephalus fuscus, Coreus marginatus, Dock bug, Dolycoris baccarum, Hairy shieldbug, insects on Common fleabane, Long winged cone-head, Lucerne bug, philaenus spumarius

The subjects of today’s blog about those insects managing to survive this over-heated summer by feeding on Drought-tolerant Common fleabane are bugs, and two examples of one cricket species, because I managed to find both male and female. Let’s begin with bugs …

Two Lucerne bugs (Adelphocoris lineolatus), pretty little things but both trying to hide from me.

I actually saw quite a few Common froghoppers (Philaenus spumarius), and in several of their wonderful variety of brown-and-cream pattern variations.

Clad in its brown armour-like skin and looking ready for a fight, a Dock bug (Coreus marginatus).

An adult Hairy shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarum). (I’ve found quite a lot of nymphs of this species recently and feel they deserve their own blog – you’ll see why soon.)

And now for the crickets. These are Long-winged cone-heads (Conocephalus fuscus), a type of bush-cricket. I’ve just realised that this species has only featured on this blog once before, in July 2020, when I included a photo of a nymph in the post 202/366 More misc minis. The first photo shows a female, though, unfortunately, her impressive ovipositor is mostly obscured; the second image is the male, with a much smaller appendage.

Three shieldbug species

06 Friday Mar 2026

Posted by sconzani in insects

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Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale, British shieldbugs, Common Green Shieldbug, Dolycoris baccarum, Green shieldbug, Hairy shieldbug, Hawthorn shieldbug, Palomena prasina, shieldbug

The number and variety of invertebrates that are now out and about is gradually increasing, though seeing them depends on reasonably warm, sunny days, which are still very much intermittent here in south Wales. When the sun does shine though, shieldbugs can be seen basking on the trees of shrubs and wildflowers, and I’ve now managed to spot these three different species.

Hairy shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarum)

Hawthorn shieldbug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale)

And Green shieldbug (sometimes called Common green shieldbug, Palomena prasina). Both of the above are Green shieldbugs but this species changes to a bronze colour before winter hibernation and takes a little time to change back to its usual green hue come the spring.

Hairy in hiding

10 Wednesday May 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British shieldbugs, dandelion seedhead, Hairy shieldbug

I’m not sure what this Hairy shieldbug was doing – well, actually there were two of them, and they’d both decided they were going to play hide and seek under the fluffy umbrella of a Dandelion seedhead. Crazy, but cute!

230510 hairy shieldbugs

Sunbathing bugs

16 Wednesday Mar 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

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Tags

British bugs, Common Green Shieldbug, Coreus marginatus, Dock bug, Dolycoris baccarum, Hairy shieldbug, Palomena prasina

The shallow bowl shape of the leaves of Winter heliotrope were perfect for the bugs enjoying Monday’s warm spring sunshine. In one small sheltered area I found several Common green shieldbugs (Palomena prasina) . . .

220316 common green shieldbug

two Hairy shieldbugs (Dolycoris baccarum) . . .

220316 hairy shieldbug

and two Dock bugs (Coreus marginatus).

220316 dock bug

Shieldbugs on gorse

22 Thursday Apr 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects, plants

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British insects, British shieldbugs, Dolycoris baccarum, gorse, Gorse shieldbug, Hairy shieldbug, Piezodorus lituratus, shieldbugs on gorse

I had expected to find Gorse shieldbugs on these glowing gorse bushes (the clue’s in the name) but, in fact, the most numerous were the Hairy shieldbugs (of which there must have been at least 20).

The Gorse shieldbug (Piezodorus lituratus) (above left) looks very like a Common green shieldbug but its red antennae are a distinctive identification feature. The Hairy shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarum) (above right, and below) is a much more colourful character, a stylish combination of purple-brown and green, and it also has distinctive antennae, this time three white bands on a black base.

210422 hairy shieldbug (2)

281/366 Hairy and handsome

07 Wednesday Oct 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British bugs, Hairy shieldbug, shieldbug

I imagine this little guy was trying to shelter on this building wall, attempting, as I was, to avoid the worst of the wind and rain. At least it could easily fly off into the nearby bushes, whereas I had a 20-minute uphill walk to get home. Oh, and in case you don’t know, this is a Hairy shieldbug – you can read more about these handsome creatures in my post Hairy shieldbugs, April 2020.

201007 hairy shieldbug

113/366 Hairy shieldbugs

22 Wednesday Apr 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Tags

British bugs, British shieldbugs, Dolycoris baccarum, Hairy shieldbug, shieldbug

You wouldn’t think an insect that looks like it’s wearing armour (hence ‘shield’ bug) could be hairy but the Hairy shieldbug (Dolycoris baccarum) is living proof. It’s difficult to see the hairs when you’re viewing them in full sunshine, as their shield-shaped backs are quite shiny, but if you can get a close view in a shady setting, you can see the hairs on their legs and, in my photo below, along the top of the shield.

200422 hairy shieldbug (5)

I found at least 20, probably more, of these handsome creatures in the scrub alongside a seldom-walked local path, and will be keeping an eye on this area to see if I can spot their offspring in the coming months, as it’s always interesting to see the different stages of growth. You can see images of these different instars, not only for the Hairy shieldbug but also for all the other shieldbug species, on the excellent British Bugs website.

The Shieldbug red-light district

22 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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British insects, Dolycoris baccarum, Green shieldbug, Hairy shieldbug, Palomena prasina, shield bugs, shieldbug

There’s a little track I often walk down, or up, between my home and Penarth Marina, that’s not been touched by the Council’s destructive strimmers (so far), so it’s a great place to look for wildflowers and critters, and it can take me 30 minutes or more to walk its 100 metres.

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When I walked this way the other day, I came across this little Green shieldbug (Palomena prasina). Just look at that innocent-looking face … but don’t be fooled. It was probably the only one of maybe 30 Green shieldbugs I saw that was on its own – all the others were working on ensuring the continuation of their species.

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Even the Hairy shieldbugs (Dolycoris baccarum) I found (only 3 of those) were at it! Given all the bad news we hear these days about declining insect populations, I hope this means the shieldbugs are doing okay.