Longhorn flight

Like much of the rest of Britain it's been unseasonably windy here and there was very little around in the garden. So I decided some studio photography was in order (well, when I say studio I mean the kitchen table - but studio sounds better!!)

Pete found this longhorn beetle Rhagium mordax while surveying a nearby site and brought it home for me to photograph. I let it crawl around a handy log and it soon made it's way to a small projection at one end, and then launched itself into the air and flew towards the window. We opened the back door and the beetle flew off into the garden, where there's plenty of good habitat.

Adults of this longhorn beetle are seen between May and July on open-structured flowers, particularly hawthorn and umbellifers, and the larvae are found in the very rotten wood of most species of broad-leaved trees, especially just under the bark. This beetle is common in woods and hedgerows in most parts of Britain and is most often seen in garden orchards or hedgerows in country areas.

PS I'm afraid the baby rabbit didn't survive :(