Stag Weekend: You’re invited to Britain’s only Stag Weekend- celebrate and save threatened stag beetles
Wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) is calling for people volunteers across the UK to take part in their ‘Stag Weekend’ – a new national effort to help save – and celebrate – threatened stag beetles this summer.
This is a Stag Weekend with a difference, and one that can take place during lockdown too. From Friday 5th – Sunday 7th June, PTES is encouraging anyone with a garden or an allotment to help the UK’s largest land beetle, by recording any sightings and making their green spaces more stag beetle friendly. Those without a garden can keep their eyes peeled for stag beetles on their daily walk, and there are fun activities for children too, including ‘meet the stag beetle’ and a ‘beetle olympics’.
Gardens are a haven for all sorts of wildlife, and there are lots of ways to turn any green space into a stag beetle sanctuary. Creating log piles and pyramids, and leaving dead wood to rot down in the soil, makes the perfect habitat for these beautiful, but rare, beetles.
People across the UK are also being asked to record any sightings of stag beetles over the Stag Weekend (and beyond) as part of PTES’ annual Great Stag Hunt survey, which has been running since 1998 and last year saw over 8,000 sightings. Stag beetles typically emerge from the ground from late May onwards, and are most likely to be spotted when flying around on warm, summer evenings. PTES is particularly keen to hear of any sightings from those living on the edge of their natural range, in counties such as Norfolk, Cheshire, Bedfordshire, Somerset, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Shropshire.
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Posted On: 27/05/2020