Black And Yellow Longhorn Beetle Rutpela maculata

That title is quite a mouthful, I know! Try saying it backwards, but watch you don’t bump into anything as you do 😉

Stopping along a field margin where grassland meets woodland, pausing and just looking, I saw this brightly coloured individual basking in the sunshine. It was quite spectacular when a pair of wings appeared from behind those distinctive black and yellow wing casings (or yellow and black, depending on which way you are walking), and it lifted off into the humid air, turned and hovered off towards the cooling shade of the woods.

Click once to expand view, click again to get that little bit closer

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June 2018, local field margin, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman