"Ben" wrote in message
...
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?

There are scorpions in the UK, mostly in small colonies in the south east of
England. However, scorpions have a sting at the rear end, and two crab like
pincers at the front end of their bodies. So, your description doesn't sound
like scorpions.

Common UK insects with pincers at the rear end would be earwigs, and the
somewhat larger Devil's Coach Horse.