Warming up
The weather suddenly warmed at the weekend and Saturday saw the garden and countryside transformed from its winter stillness into a humming, thrumming , buzzing venue for all the bugs that had been tucked up in the cold to come out and party in the sun.
I saw several peacock butterflies including two that appeared to be mating – one sitting still with its wings closed, the other perched on its tail end, using its wings to balance there. This went on for a good fifteen minutes. Is this usual for butterflies, or was this chap a real Casanova? Or maybe he was just not very efficient… Any insect buffs reading this, do enlighten me!
This other Peacock feeding on the heather flowers looked like it had been in the wars with its raggedy wings.
But the big insect event of the weekend was a swarm of beetles that appeared out of nowhere on Saturday afternoon and filled the air. We had to close all the house windows and clear a few dozen out of the kitchen. They appear to have been Heather Beetles (see pic above), which can do a lot of harm to heather moorland in large numbers: bad news for hungry peacock butterflies, honey bees and young grouse. Thanks to the good folk at Wild About Britain who helped me identify the bugs.
Tags: bugs, wild flowers
November 8th, 2010 at 10:46 am
Karen,
Although late in the day, I can confirm that your beetle is a heather beetle and that it is capable of doing large scale damage. I am working to try and raise awareness of the damage that this beetle can cause to our retreating heather cover in Scotland. If you have a moment I would be pleased to hear a bit more about what you saw in April and get details of your location so that I can follow this up with the local landowners. I am seeking to gather as much information as possible about where this beetle is active. More information on the website.