Birch Shield Bug

Today's Guardian Country Diary is about this delightful family of birch shield bugs that I found feeding on birch seed catkins, beside a footpath along the river Tyne at Wylam.

This is a nymph, two moults away from becoming an adult, with the most amazing 'smiley face' markings on its abdomen - an insect emoticon.

And here it is feeding alongside its mother, on a birch seed catkin.