A quick trip to the heath

Yesterday, I was on child care duties and so I proposed a trip out to Cavenham Heath in Suffolk. Previous trips here with the kids had been a success as they enjoyed trying to catch grasshoppers in pots.

Yesterday's trip was much less of a success with #1 son being a fun sponge and #2 suffering from a cricked neck, so our trip was cut short to avoid excess arguments!

We did come across a couple of the beetle Trycocopris vernalis which is the second time I've seen it here.

More exciting were my first Beewolfs (or is it beewolves!) Philanthus triangulum. They were provisioning burrows with bees.

I also pootered what I assumed was going to be a Bembidion beetle but when I looked at it under the hand lens I could see it was a very small hemipteran. Turns out it's Plinthisus brevipennis a relatively common ground bug.

Just need a return trip either on my own or with more amenable children.

Where is the string that Theseus laid?

A tip off from Stephen Boulton on the UK beetles Facebook Group send me scuttling back up to Cavenham Heath NNR this morning. I'd seen Stephen's amazing images of Minotaur Beetle Typhaeus typhoeus and wanted to see one for myself. Whilst not an uncommon species in the southern half of the UK, it is localised, and not a species I'd seen before.

It is mainly found on heath and moorland with sandy soil and has a penchant for sheep and rabbit dung. Despite it being pretty chilly, I soon found over fifty of them going about their business in their characteristic stumbling fashion. When feeling threatened they buzz slightly which appears to be them rattling their elytra.

There appeared to be lots of burrows where they'd either just emerged from or where provisioning for breeding.

Whilst watching several move about and navigate the tussocks i noticed a smaller dor beetle that stood out because of its smooth and shiny elytra.

It appears to be a Spring Dumble Dor Trypocopris vernalis. This is a very local species and is seperated from Heath Dumble Dor T. pyrenaeus by denser punctures on the pronotum which are visible in the images below.

So turned out to be a two new beetle day and I even managed to buy a new car as well....

...and the title of the post?
With its link to the minotaur myth I couldn't resist stealing the line from one of the greatest groups of the late 70s/early 80s!

A walk on the heath

I'm currently on leave for 3 weeks in between jobs and will be using that time to catch up on jobs around the house plus a huge amount of gardening. However, this morning I decided to pay a visit to somewhere that I'd never visited before.

Cavenham Heath is part of the Brecks. Much of that habitat has now been lost so Cavenham is a remnant of that particular habitat of heathland and acid grassland. It is an important site and is designated a National Nature Reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The heath is next to the River Lark where it becomes wet grassland and fen and is surrounded by Birch woodland. It is managed by Natural England.

Late September probably isn't the best time to visit although there are apparently post-breeding flocks of Stone Curlews. Needless to say I didn't see these. I did see Green Woodpecker, Tree Pipit and loads of corvids.

The walk was very pleasant in the sunshine with a few insects venturing out into the cooling breeze. Lots of Common Darters were about including this female.

A Small Copper plus the odd Large White were seen flitting about on the track edges.

This Devil's Coach horse beetle was seen examining an over ripe dog turd, off which there were many (turds not beetles). Dog walkers that leave their pet's produce on the ground (or in little bags hanging from trees) really piss me off. Not only is it a walking hazard but I guess it also adds nutrients to areas that may not traditionally have many.

Roesel's Bush-crickets were apparent from their low soft sung in patches of longer grass. I've been noticing this song at several places recently.

I saw a couple of these sand wasps in the sandy edges to the tracks. Given I was in the Brecks this is most likely to be Kirby's Sand Wasp Podalonia affinis although hirsuta is a remote possibility.

On my way back to the car I noticed a late Volucella zonaria flying around a young oak and managed a few shots before it flew off. Always nice to see and I'm always amazed at what a whopper these are.