Cyn's Nature Notes: Red Beetle

Sunday 24 April 2011

Red Beetle

Last autumn I noticed with surprise how very large the Acanthus Mollis had grown. It is a great plant and comes up freshly green and beautifully mounded every year. It doesn't mind where it is planted, sun or shade. Plant it in the driest spot possible and it will still look breathlessly beautiful, when in flower and also very attractive when only a mound of leaves. Its common name is Bears Breeches.

I have a great affection for this plant with its mound of large, mid to dark green, classically shaped beautiful leaves and strange tall flower spires, with their purplish flowers, followed by large, fat, round seeds hiding under a hood and sitting on a prickly platform, which must have evolved to protect the seeds from predators.

It is a wonderfully architectural plant and when in flower more than 6 feet tall. Mine was now enormous and more than 10 feet across, it had however taken more than ten years to reach this size and I must admit it did look stunning.

I'm sure these are the leaves that inspired the design on some classical columns.

This spring noticing it was again fulfilling its promise, I bent down to stroke the shiny new leaves still furled. As I moved them, I noticed something red at the base of a stem where it met the ground. Further investigation showed it to be a shiny red beetle; it looked suspiciously like a lily beetle, but it had done no harm to the acanthus and I wondered if it had overwintered there. It was an eye catching beetle, because of its very redness.

Looking at the photographs which interestingly show more detail than the naked eye, I wonder if this beetle was newly hatched because the wing cases in the top photograph look crumpled as if they are just straightening out whereas in the second photograph they look a lot less crumpled. So now I wonder if the adult lays eggs which overwinter in the ground and hatch out in the spring.

If you click on the pictures they enlarge, if you click on the lower picture you will see the beetle has turned its head and there is its tiny face looking back over its shoulder at me.

I looked this beetle up and discovered it was a Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa coccinea) its foods are; nectar, sap and other sweet liquids. A very similar species to this is the Pyrochroa serraticornis, which has a red head.

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About this Blog

When we moved to our present home in December 1987, I was very ill and bedridden. My garden was a life-saver, although it was very different then. The first thing I did was to put up bird-feeders, and long hours were spent lying indoors in a recliner. This was when I discovered many things. Do you know the underside of every blue tit’s tail is differently marked? Gradually, over the years, the garden changed. We put in shrubs and plants that would not only enhance the garden, but would also be good for wildlife. The first rabbit we saw was so joyful for us. The deer eat the flowers, prune the apple trees, eat the marrow, and are wonderful to watch. Foxes have been a major part of our wildlife. We have fed them each night for more than 20 years. They are such a delight, especially in late summer and early autumn when there are youngsters. They behave like puppies and are great fun to watch.

I love all wildlife: the mason bees that nest in the brickwork of the bungalow, the hornets that last year made their home in the roof above our bedroom, the bees currently nesting in the roof above the bathroom. On a hot evening, if you stand quietly in the bathroom, you can hear this amazing sound: it is very rhythmic and reminds me of the waves at the seaside. It is made by the beating of the bees’ wings as they fan their nest to keep the temperature at the right level -- how many people have heard that sound? I feel so privileged.

Obviously, I feed the birds. When I open the window in the morning I call “Come on Bobby and Blackie”, and one followed swiftly by the other they fly immediately to the bird table. Each morning, on rising, I make my way to the kitchen and find the squirrels already sitting on the window ledge waiting to be fed. Winter brings the moorhens and spring time the mallards. Our pond is a poor effort from a human point of view, but wild creatures see it differently. On summer days, the grass snakes spend long hours in the pond: eating the fish, froglets, toadlings, newts, and any other living creature they can swallow. Although I hate to see the pond emptied this way, I do enjoy the snakes and feel they are an important part of the balance of nature in the garden. Watching a dragonfly nymph climbing out of the pond, up a plant stalk, and then over the next few hours gradually transforming into a beautiful dragonfly -- these are contented hours well spent.

It has been my pleasure to write and publish a nature column each month. I am always delighted to hear how much pleasure this brings to my readers. I have often been asked if I have written a book, so I am making more of my writings and photography available through this web site and blog.