Corona Wildlife Diary: Day Seventy-eight

The uplifting role that wildlife plays in our lives becomes more vital than ever. So, for my own sanity as much as anything, I’m going to keep a daily diary of what I find around my garden. Post your pictures on the ‘Sussex Wildlife Trust Nature Table’ page.

Day Seventy-eight

I’ve only ever had one sporting hero. In the red corner, standing 6ft 6 and weighing in at 365lbs, Big Daddy kept my Gran and I glued to the TV set on wet Saturday afternoons as he wrestled Giant Haystacks or Kendo Nagasaki in his sequined spandex. If you're currently missing your favourite sporting fixtures you can relive some of Britain's finest wrestling excitement here or here

Big Daddy floors King Kong Kirk, Town Hall, Ossett, West Yorkshire (Photo: Belkin59)

This morning I was doing some heavyweight lifting (moving some bags of compost in the corner of the garden) and hiding underneath I found this incredible monster - a Lesser Stag Beetle.

What an amazing insect. It's the first time I've seen one in my garden and although this beefy beetle is impressive, it's not Britain's heavyweight champion. That's why I'm always envious of colleagues who live in Henfield because the town, a few miles from where I live, is a hotspot for our biggest beetle, the Stag Beetle.

Stag Beetle photographed in Henfield last week by Filma Dyer.

In June, Stag Beetles – the big daddies of the beetle world – are emerging from the ground and getting ready to rumble.

There are around 3,000 different species of beetle in Sussex and an estimated 29,000 species across Europe. Just as Big Daddy’s 64-inch chest earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Records, the 2.5 inch long Stag Beetle holds the coveted title of Europe’s Biggest Beetle. And, like a 26 stone man in a spangly leotard, the adult male Stag Beetle is equally impressive and ludicrous. Its 3-segmented black and maroon armoured body is crowned with a ridiculous pair of trademark stag-like ‘antlers’. They are actually modified mandible mouthparts and are used to impress the antler-less females and to grapple rival males.  

Stag Beetle photographed in Henfield a few weeks ago by Mike Russell.

Before these tiny titans step into the ring ,they have to put in some long hours in training. The beetle’s larvae spend an incredible 5-6 years munching on a deadwood diet of buried logs and roots, building the bulky body that will sustain them to survive above ground. As adults they will live for just a few weeks without feeding, relying solely on the fuel tanks accumulated underground. In early summer, after pupation and transformation, they burst from the ground and go looking for a fight. I always find it incredible that these chunky, bulky beetles can fly. On warm evenings they whirr through the air with the grace and subtlety of a Chinook on their aerial reconnaissance for females. But if another male beats them to it, that’s when things get nasty.

(Photo: Sophie May Lewis)

In my fantasies I imagine these beetle brawls playing out on a dead tree stump. A crowd of over-excited elderly invertebrates gather ‘round; the grasshoppers and crickets chirping in with a chorus of “We shall not be moved”, while the earthworms and earwigs chant “Eas-eh! Eas-eh!”. The fighters face off before charging and locking antlers. With incredible strength a Stag Beetle can lift his opponent into the air, holding him there heroically before spectacularly body-slamming them down onto the stump.

(Photo: Derek Middleton)

We’re fortunate that southeast England is a hotspot for these Herculean heavyweights, but sadly our Stag Beetles are on the ropes. The loss of old trees from the countryside has had dramatic impacts on the survival of the beetles’ underground larvae and their numbers are declining. They are limited to a number of 'hotspots' in Sussex such as Henfield and Ringmer. If you are lucky enough to see them in your garden, you could help them by creating the subterranean rotting wood habitat they need. See this guide (here).

Here's Shirley Crabtree himself to sing us out today (here)