Ben wrote:
:: Pulling down some old fence panels to replace them today, I
:: disturbed a large number of insects with crab-like pincers on
:: their rear end. They looked like scorpions, but I wasn't aware we
:: had any in the UK. What could they have been?

Scorpions! - we do have them in the UK but they are rare...BTW, if the
pincers were at their back end, it's unlikely they were scorpions -
scorpions look a bit like lobsters, with their pincers at the front, on
their 'arms' ...earwigs have pincers on their rear end?

see he
http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/e_flavicaudis.php

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/eflavuk/mast.html