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What is this insect? Looks bad.

IlikeplantsIlikeplants Posts: 894
in Wildlife gardening
I find them scurrying by the water butt and somehow getting into a bucket which is where this one was.
I was thinking earwig but his tail isn’t as pincer like 

Posts

  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Rove beetle. One of the garden good guys that predate on pests.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I think that's a Devil's Coach horse beetle ... the gardener's friend  ... they eat slugs

    https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/animals/beetles/devils-coach-horse-beetle/

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • herbaceousherbaceous Posts: 2,318
    Rove beetle, definitely.
    "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."  Sir Terry Pratchett
  • IlikeplantsIlikeplants Posts: 894
    Oh wow, they look mean but are helpful. I’ll look out for them and put them on the veg patch next time to catch some slugs hopefully.
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