What is this bug?

[GoodyGoodyGumdrops]

Do I need to run screaming for the bug spray?

It's a ladybird in the larva stage, it will then go into the pupa stage before becoming a ladybird

Don't know but have similar on apple tree.

Then I shall put down the rubber gloves, face mask and bug spray, come out from behind the shed, and love and cherish it.

Ladybird larvae are, I think, greenfly guzzlers so you should need less bug spray if you have plenty of these girls!

It's a ladybird larvae. Harlequin ladybird.

Here's another mystery critter. Found it on my little olive tree. Is it a grasshopper? Is it responsible for all the distorted leaves tightly packed together in 2s and 3s, which I had been industriously punching off the little tree? I assumed they were 'nurseries' for some horrid plant-munching critter, but have I actually just massacred something lovely?

Yes a grasshopper, and unlikely to be responsible for furled leaves. that's more likely to be blackfly or aphids. Introduce your ladybird larvae to it!

Looks like a grasshopper to me. Chris Packham has just done a programme on BBC focusing on garden wildlife, large and small. It's fascinating. It's set over a year and called something like 'death on the lawn?! Anyway it's on I player worth a look.

X post!

I sometimes hear them in the evening. How exciting to actually see one!