We were at this spot again on our walk to the village this morning, sitting on a log and quietly watching the scene to see whether anything interesting would move in it, which, as always, duly happened when....
....what looked like a very heavily pregnant roe deer appeared from behind the gorse bushes and quietly grazed in front of us.
Later, sitting on another log in the pine plantation, we suddenly realised that a young roe deer was watching us from cover not ten metres away, only noticed when it moved.
Joining us on the log was this beetle, possibly a two-banded longhorn beetle.
While the most common butterfly on this walk at the moment is the speckled wood, a close runner-up is the orange tip, which seems to be having an exceptionally good year. The male is easily identified while....
....the female, which lacks the orange wingtips, is less easy.
We were at this spot again on our walk to the village this morning, sitting on a log and quietly watching the scene to see whether anything interesting would move in it, which, as always, duly happened when....
It certainly is Jon, a Two-banded Longhorn Beetle - Rhagium bifasciatum. Larvae feed in coniferous forests which is correct for your location. You have photographed well - it shows the redish flanks of the wing cases and the two spikes on the thorax. It is not one in my photographic collection, so I am a little miffed. There are about 70 species of longhorn in the UK. Well done. The underside of the orange tip's wings must be one of the most beautiful patterns in butterfly adornment.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Derryck. I am always mightily relieved when I've managed to identify something correctly!
DeleteI had no idea that the beetle was anything unusual, though it was rather beautiful.
And, yes, I absolutely agree with your comment about the undersides of the orange tip's wigs.