Scales

Backblip

A backblip today, having been unexpectedly visiting some friends to watch the footie last night.

These are scale insects (I think Pulvinaria regalis) which are covering the trees outside the house at the moment. Apparently these "scales" are the waxy coverings of the females...which have laid their eggs in the fluffy white stuff, then died.
The males are winged, but the females only crawl small distances. They have very stumpy wee legs and are related to (and a foodsource for) ladybirds.