Country Life
Countryside news
By Tony Ridd
Stag hunt
How you can help this endangered beetle during June and July?
Stag beetles are Britain’s largest
land beetle, with males reaching
up to 7.5 cm in size.
They are also one of the most
spectacular looking insects, with a
male’s huge mandibles (antler-like
jaws) making them easy to spot!
Despite their fierce-looking
appearance, stag beetles are
harmless if left alone. Between June
and July, wildlife charity People’s
Trust for Endangered Species
(PTES) is asking for recorded
sightings of stag beetles on six
summer evenings, as part of an
ongoing European study into these
impressive, yet endangered beetles.
Taking part in the survey couldn’t
be easier; all volunteers need to do
80
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is walk 500m, six times between
June and July on warm, summer
evenings, counting and recording
any stag beetles they see.
To take part please visit: www.
stagbeetlemonitoring.org. Laura
Bower, Conservation Officer at
PTES, explains: “Loss of habitat and
lack of dead or decaying wood are
just two of the reasons why stag
beetles need our help. Stag beetles
are completely reliant on dead
wood and are part of the process
of recycling nutrients back into the
soil, making them a very important
part of the eco system. They
mainly live in Britain’s gardens,
parks, woodland edges and
traditional orchards, and were once
widespread throughout Europe.”
As well as taking part in the
European Stag Beetle Monitoring
Network survey, PTES wants
members of the public to record
any sightings directly to them via
the Great Stag Hunt – an annual
stag beetle survey that PTES has
been running for nearly 20 years.
Last year, over 6,107 records (of
both larvae and adult beetles) were
submitted to PTES via the Great
Stag Hunt website: 925 larvae and
5,182 adult beetles.
To record a sighting, please
visit: www.ptes.org/gsh, and if
you can, take a photo too to help
conservationists at PTES verify your
sighting.