I'm forty fifth generation Roman

The bit of Cambridgeshire that I live in is very, very flat and on the edge of what was historically the fens, and which is now mainly highly productive and highly intensive arable. South of me is where the chalk kicks in and the landscape becomes slightly more undulating and there's a slight change in some of the fauna and flora as a consequence. 

This week is school holidays so it's always a challenge to wrest the kids away from screens and get them outside for some fresh air and exercise. This morning's trip out was to the interesting archaeological site of Bartlow Hills.

These 'hills' are in fact the largest surviving Roman burial mounds in Western Europe. There are three that are accessible to the public with a fourth on private land. There are another 3 or 4 that have been 'lost', presumable destroyed and dismantled, They are impressive creations with the largest standing about 15 metres high and were partially excavated in the mid-19th century.

Apart from a dose of Roman history, the other reason to visit was that the only record of an oil beetle I could find for VC29 was from here too. I've never seen a live oil beetle so was keen to see a new family of beetles. Within a short time of reaching the mounds we found several individuals on the ground moving quickly about. 

These were Black Oil-beetles, Meloe proscarabaeus and is the only species I'm likely to find anywhere nearby to me. Was good to watch them as they pootled about between the patches of bare earth and grassy patches. Oil beetles have an amazing life cycles being nest parasites of solitary mining bees. The female beetles dig burrows and lay their eggs there. Once they hatch, the larvae (called triangulins) climb up flowers and lay in wait for a bee to grab hold of. Once in a bee’s nest the larva gets off the bee and helps itself to bee eggs, and stored pollen and nectar. The larva develops in the bee burrow until it emerges as an oil beetle ready to make more baby oil beetles. 

The post title inspiration comes from the opening track of the debut album from The Streets. Twenty years on it still sounds good.