As we climbed the hill the low cloud thinned then became wisps of mist. Patches of blue sky began to appear. Soon the heat of the rising sun would dry the droplets of water clinging to hawkbit seed heads beside the path, and their parachute of hairs would expand, carrying them away to join a blizzard of downy thistle and willowherb seeds drifting on the breeze.
The aroma of September, of damp earth and decaying grass, hung in the air, though there was, as yet, no hint of autumn colour in the trees. Fungi, the great recyclers, were already at work.
Half way up the hill another recycler, a burying beetle (Nicrophorus vespilloides, sometimes known as a sexton beetle) scurried across our path. A dead bird or small mammal would suit its purpose.
Sextons are attracted to what one coleopterist described as “the irresistible bouquet of death”, which the sensitive antennae of these grave diggers can, reputedly, detect downwind from a mile away. They tunnel under carrion until it is submerged in soil, then lay their eggs under this food store that will feed their grubs throughout their development.
This individual, caught in the open with only its lurid black and scarlet warning colours to protect it, was in a hurry. I coaxed it on to my hand and was immediately struck by the power of its legs as it tried to force my fingers apart. The two front pairs are short, for digging; the hind pair longer, for pushing excavated soil backwards; the exoskeleton of the head, thorax and back forms one smooth spade-blade for forcing under a cadaver.
Then I noticed the hitch-hiking mites clinging to the underside of its head. These do no harm to the beetle, merely using it for transport between food sources, where they too feed on the decaying corpse and its fly maggots.
I lowered the beetle on to the path. It immediately resumed its journey towards the trees and began searching among the roots. Perhaps it had already detected the scent of death. Suitable corpses are widely scattered and competitors might already be closing in. Successful pairs will fight all comers to defend their prize, then stay to tend their young in the crypt below.
