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What insect is this?

MMflowerMMflower Posts: 79
in Problem solving
Hi , can you please identify this insect? It’s all over my poppies and roses. Does it do any damage to the flowers? 
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  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    Theyre pollen beetles. Have you got oilseed rape nearby? Thats one of their favourites but they often come in from crops. Weve been swarmed with them last day or twoThey are perfectly harmless to your plants and handy little pollinators. They tend to come out if the weather is building to a storm 
  • MMflowerMMflower Posts: 79
    Thanks Jellyfire, no I don’t have any oilseed rape nearby.  Good to know they don’t do damage. They do make it difficult to smell my roses though!   ;)
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    ... are they the same as thunder bugs? That's what we used to call them as children.
  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    @Fire we used to call them it too, but we also used to call thrips (the tiny little black ones that used to get everywhere from behind the glass on picture frames to in your watch face) thunder bugs. They both seem to swarm when there is a storm in the air though.
    @MMflower haha, theyre perfectly harmless, youll probably find their are none in sight in a day or two. They cover every flower in sight while there here though 
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited June 2018
    London is looking at 30oC next week but no thunder on the cards here. I wish.

    It's shaping up to be a drought year.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    If you hang a yellow tee shirt on the line any pollen beetles in the area will swarm all over it. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    ooo, that's worth trying out.
  • JellyfireJellyfire Posts: 1,139
    I think that tends to be ‘as well as’ rather than ‘instead of’ though!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Yes ... just an interesting fact, not a remedy  :/

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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