Day 213 - Beauty of the Mini-Beasts - part 9 - Vibrant Violet Ground Beetle

Violet Ground Beetle (Carabus violaceus)

Hey everyone, well its day 213 and I have another lovely insect here for you. Dad found this for me as he came home from playing quoits, it was just walking along the road so to save it getting squashed Dad put it in the garden and grabbed my camera as I was asleep. I'm going to have a look around the garden for it later but it's such a lovely little beastie I thought I'd cover it anyway. I'm not that good at identifying insects so thanks to all those people that have been helping me. This one I think is a Violet Ground Beetle, though it was dark and I'm just working off Dad's photo's.

So here's what I found out about them:

• They are usually seen from March - October but hibernate in colder periods.

• Adults and larvae usually eat slugs, snails, worms and other insects

• It is a nocturnal hunter hiding in the day under logs and stones.

• You can tell its a violet ground beetle from a blue tinge to the edges of its wing cases and throax.

• Even though they have wings cases, these beetles don't fly but they are extremely fast runners

A beautiful beetle.

• They like to live in gardens, parks and scrub areas.

• They are quite large being up to 35mm long

• Even though they are common we can still help them out by having log piles, leaf piles or piles of large stones in our gardens for them and their food sources to hide in.

• Ground beetles have a neat trick if they are threatened - they produce a nasty irritating substance from their abdomens which puts off predators. Apparently the females also use it to put off unwanted attention from males!

• These beetles can live from 1 to 2 years.

• The Violet Ground Beetle is the UK's largest ground beetle.

If you want to find out more try these sites:

RSPB - Violet Ground Beetle

Wildlife Trust - Violet Ground Beetle

Nature Spot - Violet Ground Beetle

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.