Endangered Stag Beetle found at Kew Gardens Station
Rescued stag beetle
One evening recently a stag beetle was spotted making its way down the steps of the subway at Kew Gardens Station. It was a magnificent, large male with huge antler-like jaws. Thankfully eagle-eyed Kew Society volunteer and Gardening Lead Anna Anderson spotted him before he was trodden on and put him in a more hospitable natural space at the station.
Helping Hands!
Stag beetles (scientific name Lucanus cervus) are a partially protected species in the UK. They are rare and threatened throughout northern Europe and listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as Near Threatened. So we were very lucky to spot this one.
Interestingly, the populations in the Thames Valley are some of the largest in the world. They are very good for biodiversity and the environment and not at all dangerous despite their menacing appearance. We are very lucky to have stag beetles living in and around London. Indeed, a few days after the male was spotted, a family on North Road found this female in their garden!
Female Stag Beetle found in a garden on North Road
Stag beetles can live up to 7 years and spend most of their lives as larva living on rotting wood. The males can grow up to 75mm long!
If you’ve recently cut down a tree in your garden you may well have stag beetle grubs living on the rotting roots in the ground. They only become beetle-like for the last few weeks of their lives and their sole purpose then is to mate. We wonder if our two hooked up?!
Stag beetles tend to appear in May/June, especially on warm evenings. They like warm surfaces like pavements or roads, making their life rather precarious at times. Despite their rather clunky appearance, stag beetles can fly short distances.
If you see a stag beetle, please treat it with care and report your sighting on the Great Stag Hunt website or on the European Stag Beetle Monitoring Network citizen science project.
We’d also love to see your stag beetle photos, so why not post them on social media? #kewstagbeetle @kewsociety
For further information about these curious critters check the Natural History Museum stag beetle page here
