On warm Summer evenings (any warm evenings actually) we usually sit by the pool with our first glass of wine of the day.
Yesterday this guy suddenly turned up. He flew in, and landed by our feet amongst the sleeping dogs.
He (the females don't have the antlers) is a huge Stag Beetle. About 7 cms long, and extremely vicious looking. Isn't he wonderful!
That same evening I came across this guy; I wonder what happened to him. One minute he's crawling across some soggy mud pool; the next he's dead. Frozen in time whilst out for a stroll.
So much for 'Attacking Toad Hall'.
The stag beetle looks as though he could give you a nasty nip. Poor old Mr. Toad did the mud dry out before he got to the other side?
ReplyDeleteI've no idea what happened to him. He looked as if he'd just died mid-jaunt.
DeleteMorning Cro - I photographed a stag beetle last year - you don't come across them very often - yours definitely looks as if he could stand up for his rights.
ReplyDeleteI love to see them in flight. Here they refer to them amusingly as 'Kites' (cerf-volant)
Deletethe down side of country living....
ReplyDeleteI cannot "do" monsters like the stag.....too many of these and I would need counselling
A magnificent beetle, his horns look as though he polishes them lovingly every day.
ReplyDeleteAnd a lovely Mahogany colour too.
DeleteI haven't seen a Stag beetle here since I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteThe good thing was that he did not land in your wine.
ReplyDeleteEW!
ReplyDeletePoor Toadie, stuck in the mud and couldn't gt back.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't help but imagining the dinosaurs stuck in the tar pits....
ReplyDelete