without digging up the habitat.” Deborah also sets traps for adults
using ginger and mango as bait, but, even now, she’s still no nearer
to determining the percentage of their decline.
Back in London, Richard Jones is balancing a male stag beetle on
his shoulder like a pirate’s parrot. “Many Londoners aren’t very aware
of wildlife,” he says, “but there’s good local knowledge of stag beetles.”
And, while he admits that the habitat isn’t getting any better, he points
out that suburban gardens are unlikely to disappear in one fell swoop.
“If one habitat is destroyed, there’s probably another next door,”
he explains.
Stag beetles are well equipped to cope with changes in climate –
to an extent, anyway. “They can survive winter temperatures as low
as –8°C, and happily mate on cool summer days at just 8°C,” explains
Deborah Harvey, “but they won’t breed at temperatures over 32°C.”
Another worry is flooding. Heavy rains leave several stag beetle
hotspots submerged. “They can survive underwater for a week,”
says Deborah. “But it could be three more years before we see the true
impact of the prolonged wet weather in early 2014.”
If the adult beetles do struggle to increase their range, could
we help them relocate further north? Deborah doesn’t see why not,
but points out that you need substantial numbers in an area to
establish a population.
The good news is that stag beetles are adapting. They no longer
breed solely in dead oak wood, they’re now laying eggs in a variety
of rotting woods, including sycamore, buddleia and false acacia.
“We don’t know why they pick certain materials,” says Deborah.
“They breed in rhubarb roots, compost bags and fence posts,
and under sheds. We simply can’t find a link.” Still, the fact that
they are adapting means these magnificent beetles might have
a long future here.Kate Bradbury frequently contributes to Gardeners’ World Magazine and
BUCKET: GARDENERS’ WORLD MAGAZINE; RIGHT: NICK UPTON/NATUREPL.COM Gardeners’ Question Time on BBC Radio 4 in the UK.
| SAVE THE BEETLESNATURE72 June 2017Males fly in clumsy circles
to protect their territory.
You can tempt them with fruit
juice and hear them clearly
on a bat detector“Another worry is
flooding. Heavy
rains leave several
stag beetle hotspots
submerged”MAKE LOG PILES
Partially bury the logs to
a depth of about 30cm. Stag
beetles are known to favour
oak, sycamore, apple, pear,
false acacia and buddleia
wood. Even if you don’t live in
a stag beetle hotspot, a log pile
is still valuable, because there
are plenty of other wood-boring
beetles that will use the habitat.CREATE BREEDING
BUCKETS AND
STEPPING STONES
Other great additions to
your garden are stag beetle
‘breeding buckets’ – plastic
buckets drilled with holes, filled
with a mixture of wood chips
and soil, then buried – and
‘stepping stones’.HOW TO HELP
Stag beetles
Female stag
beetles don’t
have ‘antlers’For instructions on how to
make these, visit http://www.ptes.
org/steppingstones. But
resist the temptation to
check them afterwards –
any disturbance is likely to
kill developing larvae.SHARE SIGHTINGS
Report any stag beetles that
you spot – dead specimens
are useful, as well as
live adults – at http://www.
stagbeetle.info.