Rove

 Thursday August 26 

Said to be common, but it's the first time I've had a good look at one. This Devil's Coach Horse was in the bottom of a moth trap - and very active. I managed to get it into a pot, where it whizzed around the bottom. I hate to see any living thing distressed, after a quick few photos, it was released.

 

 The Devil’s Coach Horse is the largest of the rove beetles and can reach a length of around 28mm. Typical to this family, the Devil’s Coach Horse is a long-bodied, uniformly black beetle with an extended exposed powerful abdomen with shortened wing cases (elytra). Although able to fly its wings are rarely used.

The beetle is common in the UK and is found throughout Europe. It also inhabits parts of Australasia and the Americas but it is not native to these areas having been introduced.

The Devil’s Coach Horse occupies a wide range of habitats requiring damp conditions and is common in woods, hedgerows, meadows, parks and gardens, being seen between April and October. It is also known to make its way indoors now and then, particularly in older properties.  Bug Life

Some of our garden birds are becoming rather bold. We don't encourage them to do so. Yesterday, whilst sitting at my computer, I glanced into the sun lounge to see a Wren hunting moths along the latticed bamboo cane sides of an easy chair. I watched, spellbound, as it weaved its way through the sides of the chair before departing.One of the Blackbirds regularly has to be chased out of the utility room - where the bird food is stored. Maybe the same one helps himself when Pam is filling the feeders. We also have an audience which collects whilst we are opening the moth traps, when we have to be super vigilant that we are not the source of an easy meal.

We often find moth eggs layed on the cardboard egg boxes in the traps. Tracing the layee is beyond us. When layed in a pot, it becomes more obvious. At Cley this morning. we found some tiny caterpillars in the Heath trap. This had previously held Drinker Moth eggs. I have some photos on my phone but don't know how to transfer them as yet. Several people are on the identification task.