Sexton beetle (not for squemish)

 As previously mentioned I sometimes run a mothtrap and more than moths turn up,flies beetles,caddisflies, etc,etc.Last June as I worked one a beetle with an atrocious smell arrived ,being covered in small brown mites it didn"t look to wholesome either.

Sexton beetle (Nicrophorous humator )

I identified it as a sexton beetle, so called because it buries dead birds and rodents before laying its eggs on it.It buries them to deny access to other carrion feeding species .When the carcase is buried it injects it with strong antibiotic solutions to slow down decay,then lays its eggs.The brown mites also have a role ,they feed on fungi that might speed up the decay and so the beetle doesn"t seem to mind transporting them from foodsource  to foodsource.It is also unusual in that it remains until the grubs hatch and will cull the numbers if too many survive and threaten the survival of all.It has evolved a way of concentrating the smelly fluids of the corpse which it uses to deter anything which threatens it .
A.M Massie a reknowned beetle hunter was conducting a bug hunt in the New Forrest when he found the body of a dead tramp,"You take the feet I"ll take the head" he called to his companion,they shook the corpse over a sheet laid out for the purpose ,several beteeles fell out and these are still to be seen in the British Natural History Museum labeled "Dead tramp.New Forest.A.M Massie . 

Ladybird killer

On April 29th last I found this seven spot lady bird on a fence post  ,it wasn"t moving and had a small brown cylinderical  object under it in a cocoon of some kind.It was the pupa of a ladybird killing wasp. Dinocampus coccinellae The braconid wasp D. coccinellae injects its egg into adults of large  ladybirds, especially the 7-spot. The eggs hatch into larvae which grow within the ladybird but do not kill it. They emerge and build a cocoon below the ladybird, attaching it to a leaf or trees trunk.They sever  the nerve endings  to the ladybirds legs  and it starves to death, The larvae pupate here before emerging as full grown wasps.  The living-dead ladybird may act as a  defence form other predators. 2010 was a very good year for ladybirds, numbers were up particularly  in August September .2011 will probably have a big wasp surge s a result.