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Posted by Jonathan Hudston
UNUSUALLY high numbers of stag beetles are being seen in Dorset this year.
Dorset Wildlife Trust says the county’s unusually hot Spring seems to have brought these fantastic creatures out nearly a month earlier than normal.
Steve Halliwell, project co-ordinator for the Trust’s Wildlife On Your Doorstep Project, said: “Early this June, as I was relaxing in the garden one warm evening, I saw at least a dozen male stag beetles fly over, a phenomenon I have never witnessed before.”
Stag beetles are globally threatened. In Britain they’re protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
To see just one is a treat.
The male can grow up to 7.5 cms long – it’s Britain’s largest beetle – while the female rarely gets past 4.5 cms. However, the male is harmless, while the female can have a nasty bite.
Stag beetle numbers have been dropping since the 1940s, because of the destruction of their favoured dead wood habitats.
Dorset Wildlife Trust wants people to be less tidy in their gardens, and leave out old logs as possible places for stag beetles to live.
The Trust’s ‘Wildlife On Your Doorstep’ project offers a free information pack including gardening tips, wildlife identification charts and recording sheets.
For more information see www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/woyd Source: http://www.realwestdorset.co.uk/wordpress/06/2011/dorset-stag-beetle-sightings-increase/
