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been chewed.My interest in dead sycamores is in the insects associated with them. There are a whole series of rare beetles that feed on the black soot-like spores of the fungus. The largest is a whopping 4.5 mm long. Next time I pass I'll have to make

over from Europe.This is actually the second Harmonia to arrive 'new' to Britain. The cream-streaked ladybird, H. quadripunctata appeared in the early 1940s, and although it too is a large and obvious beetle, its spread was slower and caused far less

in there. There are no skaters. They were usually the first insects to arrive and we used to have a squadron of them zooming over the surface. This bunch took advantage of a drowning spider. And there are no boatmen or beetles yet either. But Saturday saw

and examine the gnarled and wrinkled bark at the very base of the trunk. Sure enough, sheltering in the crannies there, are several specimens of a very pretty weevil, Dorytomus ictor. No English name for this little (4.5mm) beetle, even though

, the harlequin ladybird, although they were common enough in the garden during last summer. These are the orange ladybird, Halyzia sedecimguttata.The first time I found this pretty beetle, in a West Sussex woodland, about 30 years ago, I was quite excited

've decided I am going to build one, but only along very particular lines.Many species of solitary bees and wasps nest in tunnels bored into wood. They often use old beetle burrows, rather than digging their own. And of course leaf-cutter bees will nest in any

the ones I know in the UK but they still sound like model aeroplanes when they take to the wing. It's not clear what these giant dung beetles are after, but deer droppings seem to be their only likely source of food up here.The six-year-old is enthralled

-invertebrates. There was no dead standing timber to offer fungoid growth for rot-feeding beetles. And it cast no appreciable shade for the benefit of the children.On the other hand, the pond behind it was completely shaded and overshadowed. It was polluted by leaf and twig fall