Regular Features
The Enigmatic Stag Beetles
The stag beetle is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular looking insects to be found in Britain. Not only is it one of the largest the stag beetle is also among the most charismatic beetles and is perhaps the most striking of our native mini-beasts that can be found in parks and residential homes.
Historically, the stag beetle has been recorded throughout much of Western Europe, though in many countries it is now thought to be very rare or even extinct. As a consequence, the stag beetle is protected here in the UK. One of the easy to ensure its survival in this country is to keep a check on were it is found and improve the habitat opportunities for the beetles.
In 1998 the peoples Trust for Endangered Species (www.ptes.org) Launched the hugely successful Great stag hunt and received sightings of stag beetles from thousands of volunteers across England. The organisation followed this up with The Great Stag Hunt II in 2002 to check that their numbers had not reduced further, than 8,000 people joined the hunts, reported over 14,000 stag beetles sightings. As a result, the PTES have been able to draw an accurate map of were they are and learn a lot more about them.
