Now you may be wondering ‘Did I miss the first hopper of the year?’ Well, the answer is no. I actually found my first two hoppers in fairly quick succession during last Sunday’s walk, simply by turning over Bramble leaves that were growing along a sunny sheltered lane. The first was a leafhopper, and I’m fairly sure of its identity but a valid query arose when I posted a photo on social media so I decided to wait until that was resolved before blogging about that hopper.

This second bug, a Common froghopper (Philaenus spumarius), was sitting on a Bramble stem, enjoying the sun’s warmth and, no doubt, hoping to be ignored. But a human came lumbering over, spotted it, and thrust a black object in its face. Fortunately, the human didn’t stay long, and the little froghopper returned to its basking.