What are these insects? Friend or foe?

[Melassa]

Found these insects on a leaf of my cherry tree, I’ve not been able to identify them from their markings. Are they eating the eggs or protecting them? Do I get rid or encourage?

Oops, rubbish photo, will try again

Ooh, interesting. Could be freshly hatched ladybird larvae?

Just leave them.
They're not disease carrying mosquitoes or ticks. And even those are food for many animals.

I am inclined to leave them, I just wanted to check they weren’t a destructive invasive species that was going to chew it’s way through my cherry tree. The little eggs look like miniature ping pong balls and some appear to be hollow.

Bonus if they’re ladybirds, I have an aphid infestation on another plant I was going to attack with garlic spray. I’d much prefer there to be natural predators. They do have strange markings though, more like black chevrons than dots.

Ah, if you're worried about your tree, then maybe release them far away. Or keep them in a jar until you know what they grow into. With some cherry leaves to see what they do to them.

I’ve put them in a jar with a couple of cherry leaves plus one that is teeming with aphids. We’ll see what happens!

Google says it's newly hatched
Ladybug larvae, yes.

www.123rf.com/photo_80277022_slotting-ladybug-larvae-with-eggs.html

We'll be needing regular updates and photos OP...

your experiment seems fun.

They’re really cute!

Fantastic! I will put them back outside next to the aphid hotel. Plenty to eat there!

I will keep you all posted, of course

Yep they look to me like baby ladybirds hatching from the eggs. Sweet!

I’m so glad they’re ladybirds, we’ve had very few in the last couple of years and the aphids were getting out of control.

I’ve put the leaf in a jar on its side at the base of my cherry tree. That way they’re protected from the storms that are supposedly on their way.

I feel quite maternal towards them. I’ve just chucked in a load of extra aphids so they grow nice and strong.

I know what you mean about the maternal thing- I've got baby woodpigeons outside my window and I watch them feed every morning, it's so sweet, I feel very protective towards them. I would be the same with ladybirds.

They are not ladybirds but shieldbugs (true bugs rather than beetles). Hard to tell which species but possibly Common Green Shieldbugs. Not a problem in the garden :)

Here's what newly hatched ladybird larvae look like. Both the eggs and the larvae are elongated, while shieldbug eggs and larvae are very rounded.

Oh really? So stink bugs? Hmmm, they are a bit of a pain, they nibbled my peaches last year. They don’t actually eat them, just take a bite which for some reason stunts the fruit. We have plenty of those, alas. I wonder if they’re the indigenous ones or the invasive oriental ones.

Which might explain why none appear to be interested in my offerings of aphid

There are lots of very common shieldbug species native to the UK. Are you thinking of Halyomorpha halys? It is not present here as far as I know (though could be one day as it's now established in some places in mainland Europe).

I am in mainland Europe, a couple of years ago there was an infestation of the grey-green ones which were the oriental species (I think native European are green). It destroyed the peach and apricot crop in some areas. They seem to have died down a bit now but when I do see one it is rarely green

Ah, then they may be Halyomorpha halys. Though only a few of the native European shieldbug species in Europe are green - the vast majority of species are brown or reddish, and some are really fancy, like these Graphosoma lineatum. In most cases the larvae look very different (in shape and colour) to the adults.