Saturday, May 09, 2020

Cockchafer


This handsome beetle is a cockchafer, no friend to gardeners, especially those who like a nice smooth lawn. Discovered in the moth trap this morning, it rested for most of the day and after climbing to the top of a wild strawberry launching pad flew off with a loud drone. Sadly I did not capture that but will know for the next time.

Notice that the birdsong is not yet drowned by the noise of the traffic on the B96 but it's getting there. Every day there seem to be more cars out and about. Their journeys cannot all be essential.

3 comments:

ganching said...

We sometimes see stag beetles in the garden. They are strangely beautiful. At dusk they fly around making a loud whirring noise. While I like watching them I wouldn't like one to land on me!

Mage said...

Is he collecting pollen? What does he do to lawns?

Nelly said...

I agree with you Ganching, they are beautiful creatures. The cockchafer, a male, looks like his antennae were designed by Philip Treacy!

Mage - he was just trying to get away from me! It is the larvae do a lot of harm to the roots of grass and other crops.