Fly hatch

[Bogieman]

Clusters of little black flies on the underside of Sitka branches. Every tree seems to have them, there must be millions!

Any entymologists in our midst for identification?

[MattyF]

At a guess I would say black spruce bark aphids...pretty sure that's what they are

Edited July 12, 2017 by MattyF

[Bogieman]

Yes, I reckon you're correct, thanks for the identification. The trees are relatively mature (18 yo, just had first thinning) so little chance of damage.

According to Google the next plague may be one of ants coming to collect the nectar!

[MattyF]

There is whole blocks around here that have been defoliated by the little buggers, wrecked a lot of the big Christmas trees they had marked last year.