File:Tiger Beetle (2743813998).jpg

Taken on St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly. Not an easy photo to get, as they tend to run like the wind!

This beetle, and some of its near relations I encountered when I was a child living in Australia, inspired the following poem:

TIGER BEETLES

i.

I first pursued their kin at Lake Tabourie.

They were darting across the wind-stung sand, Chasing flies, faster than I could run, With champing jaws, and yellow-spotted, Black elytra. Oh, how they eluded me Among dried blue floats and withered tentacles Of Portugese men-o’-war, how they sped On toes that barely touched the sand.

I was little more than twelve, grimed from camping, In an oily coat, stale with smoke of eucalyptus.

The stubbed summit of Mount Pigeon House On the horizon, named as Cook hove-to off shore.

ii.

Now their elytra are green as hammered emeralds.

They share their savage nuptials with swarms of bees, Where the soil has eroded, above the shore. In coital throes they flail, and sand cascades Beneath her straining legs, for two minutes Of chitin-wrenching passion. A male, unmated, Collides in his frenzy with bewildered bees, Kicks up dust, and flies. I am a child again, My quest for hoopoes forgotten, spreadeagled At the precipice. Tourists pass, and crane their necks. “Is there something interesting down there?” “Only if you like beetles.”

                                         Above me, Giant’s Castle:

Ramparts, stones, from the Iron Age.

Source material: Tiger beetles are voracious predators, hunting other insects on foot. They are sun-lovers, and normally frequent sandy places. There is one species which is relatively common on the south-east coast of Australia, and this is where I first encountered the family as a child. The specimens I observed near Porth Loggos on St Mary’s on 12 April 2004 were green tiger beetles, Cicindela campestris, and had apparently just emerged, encouraged by the sun.