General (County) update - 15th March 2011

• I see red kites every day here, constantly. But it's nice to see buzzards - especially two, clearly courting, over the Thames today.
• Sadder news was the fact that once again our fancy reflective work windows have claimed another avian victim. Last time a nuthatch and this time a long-tailed tit.
• I found a very pretty beetle on the way home. Pretty, but non native and a bit of a pest. (see photo and click twice to enlarge).
• This is the Rosemary leaf beetle (Chrysolina americana -rather misnamed as its native to the med (not America), but found in Blighty since about 1994 and spreading fast.
• In the mediterranean, where it belongs, the herbs on which it feasts (rosemary, sage, mint etc...) seem untroubled by it's presence. Here however, it can shred a herb very quickly.

• Rather like the Harlequin ladybird and lily beetle, quite pretty to look at, but best squashed really...