Weevil

You spend hours searching around the countryside looking for interesting flora and fauna but, often the best things turn up on your doorstep - or on your windows! This morning for instance, I looked out to see what was pecking at the fatballs hanging in the tree in the front garden and there on the glass was this little chap.

It is a Black Vine Weevil (Otiorhynchus sulcatus). More usually seen as a garden pest for it's habit of eating anything which is supposed to make your garden look better, particularly evergreen shrubs and trees. The adults eat the margins of leaves during the night. Picking him off the window, I got a good look at the top side of this weevil and the delicate yellowish spots on it's back. The wing cases of this weevil (or elytra) are fused together so it cannot fly.

The adults climb trees and shrubs during the night and descend again in the morning to spend the day in the soil.