Beetle With Passengers

We went for a walk today in the woods at Sherborne Park, the closest we could get to a forest for Tiny Tuesday.  I spotted this beetle and at first we thought there might be tiny baby beetles being carried by the mother, but after a bit of research it turns out they are actually phoretic mites. They do no harm to the beetle but just hitch a ride. Fascinating!

In other news we had phone and email communications with the estate agent and solicitor regarding the sale of the FIL's house. Everything seems to have stalled. We replied to all the enquiries on 13 August. Surprise, surprise they just happen to be working on them today. If I was cynical I might think that nothing gets done until someone chases them up. The delays are all to do with Covid apparently. We decided to make a flying visit to the house tomorrow and have made an appointment with the estate agent to emphasise our concerns.

One year ago:
Proserpine