Look at the elytra on that!

Click beetles are dull, brown, boring beetles ... like this one ...

Ampedus balteatus

This was a completely chance find at Bradgate Park yesterday, where we headed for some sunshine, a nice family picnic and a decent walk. I'll post some pictures from the park another day, and I'll stick with the beetles theme here. A couple from my garden moth trap, and another from the park.

Mealworm Beetle (Tenebrio molitor)

Curculio sp. (maybe C. venosus, but I need to check further)

 Wasp Beetle

And just to prove it's not just moths that wear, this is the new-to-science Bald Weevil

I've got the (long) horn

Nipped out to one of the local sites that I used to bash during the 2013 1000 in 1K square challenge, but I haven't been there for a good three years or so now. The site was more overgrown in some repsects, with wide grassy/weedy margins and decent-sized hawthorn hedgerows - but the main 'meadow' parts were slightly sad as they'd been recently mowed leaving swathes of cuttings all over the place. Also, a large dead ash tree that I'd previously gathered a few beetles from is now inaccessible, buried in nettles.

I managed to net, pot and photograph a few bits though, with a handful of PSL ticks like Dasytes aeratus, Pachyprotasis variegata and Nomada fabriciana (none of which I've pointed the camera at!).

I did point the camera at some of the more obliging beetles though .......

Anaglyptus mysticus - love this species!

Cantharis rustica

Cantharis figurata

Wasp Beetle

Cantharis nigricans

Cantharis somethingorother (haven't worked this one out yet)

Freshly mown down and not as good as it could be meadow

Large inaccessible felled ash tree

Beetles & Bits

A selection of beetles just about wraps up with the various bits and groups from last weekend, but I also managed a quick but productive visit to Huncote Embankment yesterday evening before the horrible weather moved in so I'll also post some stuff from that too.

First up, four beetles from Ketton Quarry ....

Cryptocephalus aureolus

Wasp Beetle

Cantharis livida

Denticollis linearis

And three from Whetstone ....

Raspberry Beetle

Grammoptera ruficornis

Neocrepidodera transversa

I actually went to Huncote Embankment with a specific reason - Wild Liquorice - though I failed to find it on this quick visit. Possibly I wasn't looking in the right area, more likely my pathetic botanical skills failed me as I just didn't have the right search image in my brain. I did find some other plants/flowers though .....

Field Penny-cress

Bee Orchid - really pleased to find these flowering again this year, plus I found them in three different spots

Field Pansy

Creeping Cinquefoil

I also potted a few inverts, but perhaps the most interesting is this stonking hoverfly ....

Helophilus trivittatus