Violet, the ground beetle

Once upon a time there was a beetle, her name was Violet. She was big, and black, with a beautiful tinge of blue-purple on her back. She lived at the edge of a wood. At night she would hunt for slugs(which, surprisingly, she liked eating), snails or worms. Sometimes she would chase a faster-moving insect; she was a very quick runner and had very good eyesight.

Next to the wood was grass that went on for ever, it was very short grass and there were not many slugs or snails to be found there. There were also huge creatures that marched over the grass at night, sniffing and sometimes digging; huge creatures even came diving down from the sky; she really had to run fast to get away into the safety of the wood. Even in the wood there were not very many slugs and snails, and not really enough good places for her to hide in.

As spring turned to summer, there were changes. The endless grass grew longer and longer. More plants and flowers grew. Slugs and snails and worms and lots of other mini beasts were moving in, and she wasn’t short of food now. In the rather bare woodland edge, plants started springing up. She dared to move out in the long grass and down into the tussocks of grass and under the spreading leaves, safe from the huge creatures.

High summer: the grasses and the other plants grew taller. Violet had lots of slugs and worms and insects to eat and she was strong and healthy. When the weather turned hot, though, she stayed cool in a favourite place under a stone.

Autumn came eventually, and there under the tall grasses and tall seed heads of the other plants, the huge creatures on the ground and in the sky still couldn’t find her. All the undergrowth at the edge of the wood gave plenty of hiding places, and in late autumn she could lay her eggs safely in the soil there.

During the coldest time of the winter she hid away under the favourite stone, but as it got a little bit warmer, out she came once more, to hunt again at night in the long undergrowth, in the best possible place for a beetle to live.

PS: Violet ground beetles (Carabus violaceus) are beautiful, quite large (20-30mm) and long-lived. A bit more rewilding in the park would suit them well!