During yesterday’s walk, I was looking for a particular species of fern (I’ll explain more about that in a future post) but got sidetracked for ten minutes or so when I spotted this Polypody (not the species I was searching for).

The larvae of a couple of species of moth can often be found amongst the sori, the small clusters on the underside of the fronds where spores are produced, but that is not what I found when I checked these fronds. Instead, I saw several of the tiniest insect nymphs I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure if they were feeding on the spores or just finding shelter amongst them the sori.

They are undoubtedly too small to identify but, to my inexpert eye, they look to be a species of Homoptera, i.e. some kind of leafhopper or planthopper. I’ve already made a note in my diary to go back for another look in a week’s time to see how they are developing, if I can re-find them.