Bug Out

    I have mentioned before the amazing variety of bugs we see in our area, varying from pretty moths and butterflies to grotesque and alarming insects. However, the king of them all is the Stag-beetle, an armoured monster of a scarab, the size of a walnut. Seen on the ground it is impressive enough, like a sculpture in polished horn but impossibly the creature can take to the air! It flies rather clumsily, pointing up at forty-five degrees,, like a Concorde coming in to land. Still, it does fly quite fast and is an impressive sight, buzzing along like a small helicopter.
  A couple of days ago, I was walking the dogs in the late evening along the track close to our house. The day had been baking, and the air was still warm, even though the light was fading. I counted a half-dozen of these beetles zooming about against the evening sky. I was walking back towards the house with my hands rather full, having the two extending dog leads in my right hand, while under my left arm was tucked Mounette, our tabby cat, who often likes to accompany me on our dog walks. She tends to 'peel off' just before we reach home and I was intending to post her in the door so she would not have to be called in for bed-time.
     Suddenly one of the beetles whirred towards me and flew straight at my face. I am not scared of them, but to be hit in the eye by a walnut-sized beetle would not be pleasant. All I could do was to squint my eyes and duck slightly. Luckily, my valiant cat was on top of the situation. She hit out accurately with her right fore-paw and swatted the insect out of the air. It tumbled, recovered itself at a foot from the ground and flew harmlessly off. I was really pleased to have such an effective protector!


   Bye for now, time to feed the cats (and dogs, of course )