Heard it before I saw it! A really awesome Common Cockchafer Beetle or May Bug, Melolontha melolontha my first this year! This totally fabulous beetle is a great big chap. Flying around like mini Chinook helicopters at night they spend their day feeding on native hedgerow species like Hawthorn and Oak. They start life as an egg laid in the soil that hatches into a grub feeding on plant roots and tubers. After three years they pupate and emerge as an adult (imago) in the spring. The adults only live for about six weeks. Now is the time of the year to open your windows at night and with a bright light on you may be lucky enough to encounter one of these extraordinary guys. I always note if its a male or female before I release it and the one on the new photo on top of my contacts page www.minibeastmayhem.com/contact-form/ was this young man I found tonight. I just loved the way he crawled over my thumb and popped up for the camera lens with his antenna all feathered out. Super, what a special moment and doesn't he look great? You can tell the males from the females by counting the 'leaves' on the antennae, females have six and males have seven.
This is the Common Cockchafer grub. A portly little fellow who can upset the gardeners amongst you with his fondness for roots and tubers but I think he is positively gorgeous and welcome in ours.
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