This is a glow-worm larva. At the time, I'd never seen a glow-worm larva before, so it was a cool find. The photo isn't the best, but I still love it.
Despite their name, glow-worms are actually beetles, with the females closely resembling the larvae while the males look more like typical beetles. You can tell the females apart from larvae because they do not have the yellow-orange spots the larvae do.
My favourite thing about glow-worms is that they are bioluminescent, which means that they can produce light. They are one of the few species in the UK that can do this. While the greenish glow is more noticable from females, the males, larvae, and even their eggs produce varying levels of light. The light also serves different purposes based on their point in the life cycle - for larvae, it's a warning to predators, while for adults, it's for courtship.
Glow-worms can be seen most easily in June and July but are active for most of the year, from May to September. They can be found in meadows and other grassy areas, woodland, and even on the coast.
