Black oil beetle

We were out on this lovely sunny day with friends for a walk around the Commons taking in Bystock Pools.  They weren't familiar with the area and enjoyed the changing scenery as we walked over the Pebble bed heathland, through wooded areas, around Bystock Pools and the quarries and then back up to the Iron Age fort before returning to the cars.  While we were sitting on logs having our lunch this rather large beautiful beetle appeared and spent some time scuttering around the grassland before hiding back under a leaf. I included an extra of some white bracket fungi on a tree trunk as the colours were rather striking.

A lovely day out and despite being a Saturday we didn't see many other people around.