Look at this lovely ground beetle! He was almost 2 inches long!
I am so glad that he is in my garden. I found him when I turned over one of the galvanized wash tubs. Predacious Ground Beetles are a very good sign indeed! They are valuable to the earth in more ways than I can tell you. They make me happy when I see them because they are a good indicator that the biological activity in my soil is just where I want it to be to maintain good tilth. They are also very fragile creatures, and cannot abide pesticides. I rarely see them because they are nocturnal. I'm so glad I had my camera outside with me, so that I could show you this nice specimen...he is a grand one!
3 comments:
Oh its a beauty:) and as you say a great find . I have never seen one that big but we do have some around us and there is one, I think its the Stag Beetle which is black but has an iridescent bluey purple colour to it; its gorgoeus and they are as you say precious and are sadly dissaperaing in this country also .
Re you question about a peg loom. Its a long(60 inch) narrow (4 inch )piece of wood which you drill holes spaced equally apart and the put dowels in the holes.That is the size Tony has made for me but you can do them any size. The dowels have a small hole drilled into them so you can run a warp thread though and then use it as a loom, very basic but I thought it would be great way to use up some of the rougher fleece I have plus some of the novelty yarns etc that I no longer need and of course you can use rags. Maybe you call them something different ? I am going to make a start on a rug this weekend so will post photos on my blog
what a big guy! I can tell how close to the earth farmers around me are by the smell in the air. It's slurry time.
What a lovely beetle. I think I have those in my garden, but hard to tell from shiny black crickets when they are running for cover under the mulch.
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