The story goes, one day, on tearing off some old bark, Charles Darwin saw two rare beetles. He grabbed one in each hand. Then, he recounts, ‘I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. Alas! it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as was the third one’. Darwin was pretty keen on beetles, not surprising because there are at least 400,000 species on our planet, amounting to about 40% of all described insects, and 25% of all known animal life! 

These days entomologists (people who study insects) catch beetles, that live on and in the ground, in what are called pit-fall traps.  We will put out some traps around the churchyard on Saturday night and see what we might discover on Sunday morning.  With essential help on identification by local entomologist and beetle expert, Jon Davies, we will release the beetles later in the morning.   In order to demonstrate the sheer variety and amazing life-histories of beetles that occur, Jon will also exhibit some of the beetles he has collected and preserved over the years.

This is a drop-in event, so no need to book