Yesterday I spent a short while spinning small boulders in search of beetles, mostly without any success whatsoever. Possibly the cold snap has driven them further underground, certainly I didn't find much. To be fair, I was mid WeBS Count so my attention was more on birds than beetles.
However, I did find this impressively large and distinctive beast
I recognised it as a larval carabid and, due to the large size, figured it must be something like a Carabus. A bit of online picture-matching led me to Pterostichus. The sheer size of the beast would lead me to think it may be Pterostichus niger, which certainly occurs here, but that's just guesswork.
What I do know is that nowadays my camera seems incapable of taking sharp images. I've truly trashed the lens, it's scratched and the coating has come off. It's a mess (and less than 18 months old). If it's as simple as ordering a replacement lens and unscrewing the old one, I shall do that. If it's a case of the whole camera requiring nitrogen purging or some such then I'm going to have to think about a replacement. And looking after it properly! My Olympus TG-4 Tough has been discontinued, replaced by the TG-5 with its inferior macro stacking abilities. Arse, I do hope I can just order a replacement lens and fit it myself.
