pest?

[yoanbob]

hi, digging in back garden today, about a trowels depth I came accross a long thin beetle between 1 and 2 inches long, with what looked like pincers on its behind, there were a lot of them, almost as if id desterbed a nest, dark brown in colour, anybody got any ideas? they moved quite fast.

[SimonCole]

It may be a Devils Coach Horse beetle or an Earwig:
http://www.uksafari.com/devilscoach-horse.htm
http://www.uksafari.com/earwigs.htm

Devils will eat hundreds of slugs, but Earwigs just fancy your strawberries!

[yoanbob]

thanks simon, its an earwig, yuk.