West Dartmoor, Devon: On the moor, every puddle and pool is quivering with whirligig beetles, carving circles and rotating in pairs
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calm, clear morning on Dartmoor and the shallow pools I pass are smooth as glass – scattered wedges of sky reflected between the grass and gorse. I am wandering the western edge of the moor, close to the village of Lydford, best known for its plunging gorge and waterfall. This is a place shaped by rain, from the peat bogs blanketing high ground to the rocky gullies carved by streams.
There are endless puddles and pools, and on this windless day they appear completely flat and still. Only when I look closely, I see that something is agitating the surfaces of the water. Every one of them quivers with life: whirligig beetles.
Small, dark and smooth-backed, these aquatic insects are constantly on the go, spinning around like motorised apple pips. I pause to watch a cluster of a dozen or so. Some slalom left and right through the surface film, paddling their legs and leaving tiny ripples in their wake. Others carve circles on the spot or rotate in pairs as if engaged in a barn dance. Their restless movements, seemingly as random as particles in Brownian motion, are mesmerising.
