Image of a Margined Vine Chafer
There were lots of these beetles flying around the sand dunes, cheeky starling were catching them in mid flight it was awesome to watch, we stood in the middle of all the action.
All kinds of birds had gone down to the beach to catch these green emerald beetles
The birds on the sand dunes were going nuts at the prospect of an easy meal for there chicks (I took this picture in May)
This emerald green headed beetle isn’t that small as you can see on the head of the dandelion a nice big chunky beetle, this one was on it’s last legs on the walkway on the beach so we moved it to the dandelion so it could die in peace, This species of Margined Vine Chafer Beetle is also called the May Chafer it’s much bigger and slower than it’s smaller, faster cousins.
The May Chafer beetle is an impressive looking beetle, apparently they prefere to lay there eggs in grassy areas where there is sandy soil, so it explains why the Margined Vine Chafer Beetles was on the beach.