When I asked myself early on in my self-challenged 365 project why would I, or possibly anyone take a photograph, I pondered "Would it be to capture a moment, a memory and essence? A scene of beauty to enable a revisit albeit virtually or an aide memoir? Or perhaps an incongruous or funny event that might be shared on Facebook later? Documenting an auspicious moment, perhaps for the family album or to share with the world your on-the-spot reportage of the momentous, the challenging, the downright depressing?" I’m fairly sure I had no intention of photographing the antithesis of beauty (well, in my mind) as a dying upturned stag beetle.
I spotted the specimen as I stepped off the train, I really didn't want to get too close. The creepy little legs were flailing around and I had a fear it might suddenly flip itself over and jump at me. Okay they're endangered and their colonies in Richmond Park were instrumental in the designation of a National Nature Reserve but they still freak me out. According to the Richmond Park website "The Stag Beetle is a gentle giant of the insect world. Despite a reputation for summoning thunder and lightning, the male Stag Beetle is entirely harmless. They may look scary to some people but their large jaws are only used to wrestle with other males and their bite is too weak to hurt you." Hmmm they can't hurt you, well I can vouch for the fact that when one of these shiny armoured-plated huge things fly through your open window waving its nasty red-tinged pincers and makes a beeline straight for your face, you're in grave danger of a sudden heart attack!
What I found curious that after spotting this marooned creature at Richmond Station I noticed another a little later also on its back at the end of my road. Two in one night, does that constitute a plague?
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