This little creature took me a little by surprise as it crossed my path down the hillside on Saturday. It was so cold that initially I didn't want to stop to change the lenses on my camera but as I looked a little more closely I realised that it would be worth the time and effort. So with my 100mm Macro lens I got down to bugs eye level and captured a few shots.
I have done a bit of research to identify what species this is and I discovered that it is a Bloody-nosed Beetle. They are found across the UK usually between April and September so it has emerged quite early which is a real surprise given how cold it has been recently.
It gets its name from the mechanism it uses to deter predators, apparently if you breathe on them the beetle releases a bright red liquid from its mouth, the liquid is an irritant so if a mammal tries to eat it the beetle "bleeds" in the mouth making it an unappetising meal.
They eat leaves, favouring Lady's Bedstraw and they do not fly. Although it looks as though it has wing casings the two segments of the hard shell are actually fused together.
I think they are quite handsome and I like the bobbly antennae and the other feature that I really like is the segmented legs/feet which I will add to my collection of natures' hearts. You could say that the beetle wears its heart on its sleeve (obviously not literally but you can see what I mean).
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