Cardinal Beetle

I went for a walk along 'my' usual bridle path today.  Miffed to see the paths had all been trimmed - well chopped, back to the hedges so all lot of the bug perches were gone but hey ho......

As I was about to leave the path and head homewards I suddenly spotted my first Cardinal Beetle of the year so here it is.

However at the beginning of my walk I spotted a Broad Bodied Chaser - see extra  - far too distant to get at with a macro lens so I used thre 100-300 instead - it did a good job and to think I almost left it at home but changed my mind last minute.