Well, that third pic either looks like a juvenille squash bug or an Assassin bug. If it's a squash bug then that's bad - if it's an assassin bug then that's good. I can't really tell from your photo. Do a google.com search for both and look at the images that come up. That should help you determine which it is :-) Sorry, not sure about those first two pics. Here is a link that might be useful: Judy's Square Foot Garden Blog

Also, check out Sawflies. The maggots or larvae are the creatures responsible for eating away all the soft parts in tree leaves. Leaving a delicate leaf skeleton behind. I think they are really a type of wasp but they might be an actual fly which is a completely different group of insects.

Sam, Clement, Resin and bboy, thank you very much for your answers. All three P. menziesii should be of almost exactly the same age. Is it a possibility that genetic variances between them caused one's bark to mature faster? It is quite likely that the third one is P. pinaster since that tree used to be planted on small scale for forestry around where I live. Thank you for the compliment, Sam. :) Taxus baccata is a conifer which is wild growing here anywhere; presumably because of its extensive use for hedges. Close to the one I found were numerous "normal" (single coloured, dark green ones) so this one catched my eye immediately. This one has smaller, more sickle shaped leaves which are green on the inside and bright-yellow across their edges. This post was edited by liopleurodon on Fri, May 17, 13 at 5:23

Wow...I can't tell you how impressed I am that you knew that. Thank you for the quick response!