Bruchid beetle

This little fellow is a bruchid beetle. He and ten billion on his closest chums got into my bean crop and make a right mess of it.  They drill little holes in each bean (also just visible in the picture). This means the crop is no good for human consumption, and is downgraded to animal feed. We sprayed insecticide to kill them early in the season, but the hot weather meant an enormous late flush - hence the damage. This one on my kitchen table was one of the late arrivals, and somehow survived the combine, the trailer and being bagged up for week or two, and so by the time I started cleaning up a sample of beans for germination and 'thousand grain weight' testing, he was probably feeling a bit groggy. Still, most of his chums will have perished in the field.

Flea beetles

It looks innocuous, but here I'm trying to save my oilseed rape crop. It was sown perfectly, in fabulous conditions, and had a hot rain the next day. It started to grow, but then the flea beetles arrived, and wiped the crop out. Until the ban on neonicotinoids, we could have kept them at bay with a coating on the seed itself. Now, we have to fill up the sprayer with pyrethroid insecticide, which is less than selective, and drive across the field. A lot of deaths.

Hopping to safety?

This poor little chap was trying his best to not be noticed among the stubble and straw. Luckily, we were having tea break, and were able to guide him to safety at the edge of the field. I bet many others weren't so fortunate.