It’s Cockchafer season, and one of these big beetles dropped in over the weekend. It’s always good to see them. though this one seemed a bit injured.

The round and shiny black beetle is my first clown beetle, Hister unicolor (#614). This family of beetles are scavengers, with a preference for dead animals, animal dung and other rotting things. Hister unicolor is a little less specific than some and can be found in woodland and gardens attracted by compost and rotting vegetation. This individual, as is commonly the case apparently, had several brown mites clinging onto it.