[Strangegravy]

Hi.

I'm only new to gardening and I'm attempting to espalier pear trees on my back wall, the first leaves are just starting to emerge after the first cut, and I found this little guy nibbling away on my them.

I can't seem to find a proper picture online to match up and get info on him, he's probably very common but as I said I'm new to this game.

Should I be worried more of them attacking the trees? Or what can I do to prevent it?

I've attached a pic of him for identification.

Thanks in advance.

Strangegravy

[Margo]

That looks very much to me like a Vine Weevil. They are horrible things and their larva white grubs) eat all roots and shoots especially fuschias etc.

[Strangegravy]

Thanks for the reply..

I thought it might have been but in all the pictures I've seen of them, it doesn't match up. They seem to be a bit more rougher, tougher and bigger looking than my guy, my beetle was only 6-7mm in size, very smooth and delicate looking.. but it is similar enough in shape alright.

[James Kilkelly]

Sorry to be the one to to correct ye but that looks more like a young ground beetle.
Yes I know he was found in a tree, but you can't fault him for having a little ramble.

The vast good this beetle does far out weighs the small touch of nibbling he will do on the tree.......... if that's what he was doing at all.
Ground beetles are predators of many pests, clearing away insect larvae such as caterpillars.
He could have possibly been on the tree in search of insects or larvae to eat and got peckish so decided to have a chomp on a leaf.
I'd relocate him in the garden somewhere if I were you.

[Strangegravy]

Thanks for the help James!

I had thought to myself alright what if he was just eating beasties off the leaves, maybe someone was trying to frame him! That's why I said I'd try get some info on him.

I do have plenty of bigger ground beetles running around. If he's one of the good guys I better free him from his little holiday home I made him, make him earn his keep!

[walltoall]

Hi Di Hi StrangeGravy,
He's one of the good guys. Keep him and tell him to bring his mates. There are huge variations in ground beetles and this is a "golden ground beetle" Put that string through the google sieve and select "images" and see what they look like. And you havent seen the half of them. Oh! And welcome to IrishGardeners. Stay and bring your mates.

[Strangegravy]

Hey walltoall.

Checked him out and he looks like my guys big brother... with orange leggings! He's back out there now anyhoo, fighting the cause.

Thanks for the welcome, I'll deffo be popping in here regularly for advice as my new garden grows!

[NatureInMyBackyard]

Hi Strangegravy,

This is a very late reply I realise, but I saw your post while I was trying to find information on the wildlife value of pear trees and couldn't resist talking about one of my favourite groups of insects, the ground beetles! That looks to me very much like Agonum muelleri, a ground beetle like walltowall said, but smaller than the golden ground beetle. I've never heard of them climbing pear trees! But I have no doubt he/she was helping out and not damaging your tree - they are known to eat aphids and another paper I just looked at describes them as voracious predators!

If you're still at the same location and can get GPS coordinates for that pear tree, there is an excellent recording scheme for ground beetles, you'll find it if you look up Ground Beetles of Ireland. And there's a page about Agonum muelleri so you can read a bit more about him/her.

Thanks for the chance to go on about ground beetles! Hope your pears are growing nicely!

[Greengage]

Biodiversity Ireland also allows you record your findings and if you check out
http://www.ispotnature.org/communities/uk-and-ireland you can post your picture and someone will deffo ID it.