Country diary: A priceless view of a tiger beetle - let's keep it that way | Ed Douglas

Burbage, Derbyshire: National parks and the countless marvels they contain should be as they were originally intended - free to allThere's a tiger burning brightly in front of me - not in the forests of the night, but on a Derbyshire moor, among the heather and bilberry, and in warm sunshine. It isn't orange and black, but an iridescent green, and I need to hunker down to reach its level.The green tiger beetle is widespread in Britain, and at least to the ants and caterpillars that it predates, it is every bit as threatening as the big cat immortalised by William Blake. Magnified, its fearful symmetry becomes more apparent, its mouth parts ferocious, the dandyish purple of its elegant legs more richly obvious. Continue reading...