RARELY seen pictures show a female glow worm using her bioluminescent body to attract a male.

Wildlife photographer Andrew Fusek Peters spent hours crouching in a cramped hide to capture the remarkable images.

They were taken on the evening of July 11 on farmland in Long Mynd, Shropshire.

Glow worms emit a bioluminescent green glow to attract a mate within their grassland habitats.

Mr Fusek Peters, 57, said: “The landowners around Shropshire are familiar with my work, so one asked me to come down and see if I could get a photo.

“I arrived at about 10.45pm and then suddenly there were these amazing green lights that looked like LEDs.”

“They’re very rarely photographed as they’re so small and so hidden.

“This is the first time I’ve managed to capture one for five years, but they’re immensely beautiful and a sight to behold.”

The best time to spot the insects is late evening as the female glow worms need complete darkness to have the best chance of attracting a male.

“You have to be in the right spot at exactly the right time to see them, so it was just so exciting being able to capture them up close," Mr Fusek Peters said.

“They are really gorgeous creatures and the glow they emit is unreal.”

According to the Wildlife Trust, glow worms are well-distributed across much of England and Wales, although they are rare in Scotland.

They prefer calcareous grasslands, where they can find plenty of the small snail species that they hunt.

Larvae, eggs, and adults all emit the bioluminescent glow, created by a chemical reaction in the beetle's abdomen, and the best time to find them is in late June and early July.