Paul writes: Green Tiger Beetles (Cicindela campestris), with their elegant long legs, look as though they’re built for speed. They are one of the fastest beetles and can run at up to 60cm per second. They combine this with a quick low flight, so often when I find one I end up dashing along a path trying to keep up with it, hoping to get a good look or even a photograph. They are fairly easy to identify. In good light they have a beautiful iridescent green body with purple-bronze legs and antennae. They use their speed to advantage and are great predators of other invertebrates, typically spiders and ants. This photograph just manages to show their fearsome mandibles.
They love sunny dry heaths and moors. The bare ground warms up quickly in sunshine which helps them to move faster. I chased this one along a path on the North York Moors and luckily it stopped long enough for me to get a photo. They are very widespread in suitable habitat and can be seen throughout Britain, usually between April and September.
The larvae are also carnivorous. The female lays eggs in a small burrow in the ground, where the larvae emerge. This acts as a pitfall trap for passing invertebrates and the larvae, which also have large mandibles, will grab anything that falls into the burrow.
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A lovely photo of one of my favourite insects. Their speed and alertness makes a decent photograph a skilled undertaking.
One of the most difficult insects to photograph, so well done. The amount of time I spend crawling on bare peat, only for them to fly off at the last moment, always as you are pressing the shutter button, is ridiculous.