A few days ago, I was sitting on my balcony when I noticed a number of tiny spotted bugs. I found them not unattractive. Not surprisingly I wanted a picture. However, by the time I found the right camera they’d all disappeared.

I went out on the balcony to read today, and this time I took the right camera/lens combination. But there were no bugs. After some time, the one in the picture turned up. In fact, it jumped onto my knee (you can see it there in fith picture – included to give a sense of scale).

I didn’t know what it was, so I did some research. It’s actually the juvenile stage of something we’ve become familiar with the dreaded spotted lanternfly (see last picture).

Taken with a Sony A77II and Minolta 35-105 f3.5-4.5.