I meant to go for a long lunchtime walk round the reserve today, but got sidetracked by Mark and Kevin staring intently at one of the conifer trees in our formal garden.
Covering nearly every needle on the tree were what looked like small, white cotton balls. I was totally fascinated, and spent my luchtime wondering around the tree, rather than the reserve!
It appears that these woolly masses are in fact the egg-stage of the woolly adelgid; a small, aphid-like insect always associated with conifers.
I'd certainly never come across these before, nor even heard of adelgids; I'm betting I'm not the only one!
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