My improved offer for budding coleopterists

Dorcus parallelipipidus (Lesser stag beetle). CC image by Uwe W.

I have just been on a weekend course about beetles, at a Field Studies Council centre in Surrey. Yes, such things exist, and it's marvellous that they do. Imagine entering a room with a dozen other beetle fans and not having to explain yourself; being able to make enthusiastic gasping and squeaking noises about the creatures without restraint. It was great. One day I hope you will appreciate this sort of thing even if you don't now. You meet like-minded people who care about the environment and have a passion for a niche aspect of it: I'm very lucky in my job but a lot of people never experience this day-to-day. The enthusiasm of others inspires you to learn more and more. We were taught and guided by a very knowledgeable (yet very modest) expert - county recorder Steve Bolchover. Unlike when you're working alone, you don't have to sit in a limbo of not knowing if you're doing things and identifying things correctly or not. So that expert support helps you accept and absorb information much faster.

Obviously there's only so much you can take in over a weekend. There are a huge number of species in this country and most are not easy to identify for the beginner. In fact the enormity of the task seemed even more daunting at the end of the course than the beginning, ironically. But I now have more tools in my arsenal to draw on.

By Harde and Severa. It's old and it doesn't look 'serious' but it's the only book with so many illustrations.

I have a couple more strategies to share with you for identifying and displaying your specimens. I have bought a new book (I will never, ever have enough books I suspect - Steve had dozens, many obscure and some in other languages), and I have some other useful identification materials kindly shared by the tutor. I have a new appreciation and enthusiasm for card mounting small specimens, so can help you with that, and new advice about collecting techniques and despatching methods.

A willow flea beetle, one of my tiny finds (c2mm). CC image by Tristram Brelstaff.

 It's been very dry and hot as you know, so there weren't a huge number of beetles that could be easily found: most of the ones I found were tiny. They might have been tiny, but they were still really amazing under the microscope - they can have such superb colours and sculpturing of their bodies. I found and managed to identify the beetle above, Crepidodera aurata. 'Aurata' means 'golden'.

I felt quite chuffed to pick up a Lesser stag beetle (Dorcus parallelipipedus) from under some wood (as the picture at the top) - but this was nothing compared to the female (not Lesser) Stag beetle (Lucanus cervus) that my course-mate found on our trip to a common. It was unmistakable and massive - it's this country's largest beetle (you'll be pleased to hear it was allowed to go on its way undisturbed). So that was an excellent moment and proved that you don't know what you're going to find - but you have to get stuck in and grub about to look.