Sylvia Meller
The ant that is not an ant...
It kind of looks like a beetle, but it's not.
It's called a Velvet ant, Mutilla europaea, but it is not an ant.
It actually is a species of parasitoid wasps which can be mainly found on sandy heathlands in the South and East of the UK.
Their sting contains a painful venom but it is far from potent as the one of their American cousins known as Cow killers. They are, however, not aggressive and only sting people if handled.