Sucking It Dry

I read somewhere recently that bugs suck and beetles chew. It's confusing at this time of year, so much mating going on, I initially thought that these two were making love. On closer inspection, even though they are the same metallic blue-green, one is a bug and the other a beetle. I've never photographed a blue shieldbug before. Unlike most other shieldbugs, which suck plant sap through their rostra, they are carnivores and suck their insect prey dry. 

The beetle is a flea beetle, so called because they jump, from the genus Altica. It's exactly the same colour as the shieldbug, a case of aggressive mimicry. This must be a favoured spot for the shieldbug's meals as I found the empty exoskeleton of another flea beetle on the ground below.

Lovely that damselflies have emerged, I love photographing them. I've added a blue-tailed to extras.