Hairy shieldbug Dolycoris baccarum and green shieldbug Palomina prasina

Last May, for the first time, I found a single hairy shieldbug Dolycoris baccarum in the garden here in Durham, which was notable because the guide that I used to identify it mentioned that this species was not very common north of East Anglia. Today I found many more, mostly on Honesty Lunaria annua, which is flowering in the garden now.

It may be that this of one of several insect species that are extending their range northwards, due to climate change.

One of the key identification features, apart from those smart black and white antennae, is that this species is covered with a scattering of pale brown hairs, which you can see in this photo. 

This individual is performing some essential maintenance on its rostrum, the highly specialised feeding tube, somewhat like a hypodermic syringe, that it uses for sucking sap from plants.

They are breeding here, so it looks as though I may now have a permanent garden population of these sap-sucking insects, which I welcome: they have a fascinating life cycle and add to the garden's biodiversity.

This is the second shield bug species that has turned up in the garden in the last week.

A few days ago this green shieldbug Palomina prasina, hard to spot with its cryptic coloration, turned up in a lavender bush. It has been an established member of the garden insect fauna and is partial to feeding on ripe raspberries in the summer.