Whilst I’m generally talking about birds at this time of year, reserving my enthusiasm for invertebrates until the summer months, there are some incredible invertebrates out and about even in the earlier months.
I couldn’t resist gently rolling a few of the logs on the wooded edge of the heath to admire the woodlice, centipedes and beetles. I was thrilled to see one of these:
Violet ground beetle by Carey Lodge
This fabulous black ground beetle has a metallic-purple sheen, especially around the flattened edges of its wing cases, or elytra.
It’s an active predator, coming out at night to hunt for slugs and other invertebrates. It has long legs and is a fast runner, although it might not need this skill for pursuing slugs! During the day it can be found resting under logs and in amongst the leaf litter.
There are 2 similar species Carabus violaceus and Carabus problematicus. The latter is less common but favours woodland and heath. Is it called ‘problematic’ due to the trickiness of its identification?
See a violet ground beetle: Try rolling logs that sit amongst leaf litter. Be sure to replace the logs gently.
‘Heathland heroes’ is a series of blogs celebrating some of the fascinating creatures that we find on our wooded heathland. Lowland heathland is an incredibly rare habitat and with just 16% of the heathland that existed in the UK in 1800 left, what is left is incredibly precious.