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Beetles

klfrs

klfrs

chill out
Not these Beatles

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This kind of beetle

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Rose chafer beetle. My personal favourite at home, so eagerly await summer when they emerge.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/animals/beetles/rose-chafer/

Big up @Joe P!
 
I would guess that the larger beetles are a lot less common now than when I was a kid - 55-60 years ago. That said, I grew up in Essex but have lived in Leics. for over 20 years....................

Back then occasional greater stag beetles were uncommon but regularly seen, as were billy-witches (summer chafers). The chafers are reckoned to be a major prey item for one of the large bats (greater horseshoe? long-eared?).

Devil's coachhorses were also common (a flightless, all but devoid of elytra, beetle) - haven't seen one of those in an age.

I haven't seen a violet ground-beetle in years either, but did see my first burying beetle 3-4 years back. I also had glow-worms in my garden in Devon, just outside Totnes, around 25 years back - in the UK they ARE impressive, quite magical if there are numbers in rough but low grass.

Common names index | uk beetles
 
Have definitely seen Devil's coach horse beetles in the last few months, but don't recall exactly where.

We had hoped we'd found a female stag beetle in the garden but I'm not so sure now, I think it might be a lesser stag beetle:
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Was watching this little fella a couple of months ago sewing up a hazel leaf, presumably around some eggs:
 
not keen on these , was in a hotel recently with distressed wood on walls riddled with woodworm beetle holes

occassionally find one in the house , still got an exit hole in our bathroom shelf where one hatched out
 
For some reason South London is a stag beetle stronghold so we're lucky enough to see them reasonably regularly. A couple of years ago we walked past the local bowls club in the evening and there were dozens of, presumably freshly emerged, stag beetles flying - brilliant to see.

They're fantastic animals. The larvae, rather less attractive!
 
Bombardier beetles

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If you come for a Bombardier beetle better not miss …


Within my old college grounds in S London there was a large colony of stag beetles.
Never seen one before and couldn't believe my eyes.
 
Stag-beetle larvae are eating rotting wood for a few years before emerging as beetles - a rare thing these days in most places - lying dead wood.

My place in Devon also had death-watch......................... The hatch happened as I was fitting a new kitchen and several of the corrugated card boxes were laying around, and they were discovered by the beetles to make SUPERB sounding boards. The males attract mates by hamering their heads against hollow wood or something else that resonates - tap-tap-tap-tap-tap in quick succession, pause, repeat. The excellent accoustics of the card made them easy to find and squish, as well......

calorgas said:
We had hoped we'd found a female stag beetle in the garden but I'm not so sure now, I think it might be a lesser stag beetle:
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Agreed - lesser stag
 
hifinutt said:
not keen on these , was in a hotel recently with distressed wood on walls riddled with woodworm beetle holes

occassionally find one in the house , still got an exit hole in our bathroom shelf where one hatched out
Click to expand...

Those things are arseholes. They’ve cost me £thousands. I really like insects, would never kill a spider etc (I just let them be in the house), but woodworm get dealt with. It is very rare to see them as active as the ones in that footage, they are usually pretty docile IME.

PS The other beetles on the thread are excellent. They have my full respect.
 
Sad but true it's for the best that they and other pests are controlled. It's foolish not to. A colleague loved the patterns woodworm were making in his floors, so decided to let them be. After a decade or so the infestation became a structural problem. I don’t like to do it, but terminate all problematic building fabric nibblers.

I didn't know woodworm are assorted beetle larvae. Never let it be said nothing is learnt from pfm.
 
paulfromcamden said:
Large beetles are still kept as pets in Japan.
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And the UK.

There is quite a following for invert' pets in the UK, and across the world.

Personal fascination stretches especially to stick insects, arachnids and milli/centi-pedes (the latter can be VERY unpleasant characters, so be careful, if interested).

I have kept and bred a small number of cricket/grasshopper species - endless fascination as amongst invert's they are some of the most active, by far.
 
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