AnonymousI was at home for the summer solstice, I live in France, and at dusk a male and female stag beetle flew right by me where I was stood next to an oak tree. They landed on a small laurel bush that had 3 pink flowers on it and crawled under a leaf and joined together, presumably mating. Then three other male stag beetles flew over, one hovering in front of me checking me out, and they landed at the foot of the laurel and began circling it, they’d missed out on the female! They were still there when it was dark and I couldn’t see anymore. After this I lay on the grass looking up at the stars, my cats were beside me so I had good company.
Solstice dawn I was up early and opened the curtains and saw 13 bats come in to roost behind the shutter, some of them took several attempts to slip into the small gap between the shutter and the wall. Then 13 minutes after sunrise with the sun’s first rays on the barley field down the hill, a deer ran from east to west along the edge of the field.
So although quiet it was an eventful solstice!