Sussex residents encouraged to record sightings of endangered stag beetles

The insect is on the decline due to habitat loss and has even become extinct in some parts of Britain and Western Europe.

To prevent this from further happening, the wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species’ (PTES) is holding its annual ‘Great Stag Hunt’ survey, asking the public to record all sightings of male and female stag beetles, and their larvae (large, white grubs) online.

Laura Bower, Conservation Officer at PTES says: “Last year almost 10,000 sightings were recorded by thousands of volunteers, giving us a real insight into where their range is, which is crucial for the species’ long-term survival.

"More help is always needed though, so whether you’re out in the garden, dog walking in a local park, on the school run or even walking to the pub, keep your eyes peeled for these beautiful beetles and tell us about any you see.

"You don’t need to be a beetle expert or have taken part before, as PTES has a free ‘beetle ID’ guide to help anyone new to the survey to help them tell the differences between stag beetles and other insects.”

Stag beetles are easy to spot – they’re the UK’s largest land beetles and the males are instantly recognisable with their antler like jaws.

From late May into July these iconic insects emerge from the ground in search of mates, and are usually spotted flying around gardens, parks and allotments on warm summer evenings.

They can also be seen on walls and warm tarmac surfaces in urban areas, and in other green spaces too such as woodland edges, hedgerows and traditional orchards.

Stag beetles usually prefer warm areas with lower annual rainfall and light soils, and as a result are widespread in southern England – excluding the South Downs, where the soil is chalky.

Laura adds: “There are other ways to help stag beetles too. Those who regularly see stag beetles can join an additional ‘Stag Beetle Count’ survey which enables PTES to understand how population numbers might be changing year on year. This extra survey only requires volunteers to walk along a local transect looking for stag beetles for 30 minutes, six times over June or July, on warm sunny days."

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Volunteer Gemma Alford, who took part in this extra survey last year, said: “I’ve enjoyed getting out looking for stag beetles during my transect walks, often accompanied by one of my children or my husband. It’s always exciting to spot a stag beetle and we’ve had other magical moments too, including observing noctule bats hunting around trees.”

Another way to help stag beetles is to build a log pile or pyramid in your own garden. Simply keep any logs, tree stumps, fallen branches or old firewood and bury them upright in soil.

This provides a vital food source for larvae (who feed on deadwood) as well as offering shelter and a place for female stag beetles to lay their eggs.

Once your log pile is created, you can record its location online to allow PTES to see where these important habitats exist, and to inspire others to create one too.