One morning last week I carried my early cup of tea outside to enjoy some early morning sunshine and discovered a big fat Maybug on its back on the chair. No amount of struggling was effecting him righting himself, he just lay there frantically waving his legs in the air, poor thing. Of course I helped him after I had taken advantage of his plight to photograph him, allowing him to hook his feet around my finger and placing him on the ground from where he took off rapidly and headed for the sycamore tree.
Maybug, Cockchafer–Melolontha melolontha The Cockchafer is one of the more familiar large beetles as it is often encountered flying noisily about on warm evenings of the early summer, when it may crash into windows, attracted there by lights. It is also known as the May Bug as this is the month in which it most commonly appears. It is common and widespread throughout Britain and Europe except in the far north, occurring in grassy and lightly wooded places.
The larvae live on the roots of grasses and other plants in areas kept as permanent pasture and once were so abundant they were regarded as a pest species.
I went out into the garden around mid-day, today, to find one swimming in my full watering can!! It only has a small opening, so there was no way it could get out!! I got a ruler and gently let it lie on it and took it out. It was big enough for me to see it panting! I laid the ruler on the patio table and watched it for a while. It started to ‘clean’ its right eye with it’s right leg, rubbing over its feathery antennae at the same time. As I could tell it was getting itself together, I went for my camera…I’d charged it several days beforehand – did it work – of course not! Here was I thinking I was going to get GREAT pics, and it’s size could be seen on the ruler!! I got my phone, and got back in time to see it fly off to a nearby bush…I could see it but not to photography it!! DOH!!
I live in north Derbyshire, in the village of Wingerworth, in the suburbia of Chesterfield, but it’s not really rural to that extent, although we do have lots of trees.
I’ve NEVER seen anything like it in my life before….I thought it might have been an alien!!…see what’s around you and you never know!!
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Brilliant! They are great insects aren’t they? Possibly not reknowned for their great intellect, but always a treat to discover. Thanks for sharing your encounter.
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I dread to think how it got its name, Finn! I do know that many of our birds, plants and insects were given their rather rude common names by our Victorian forefathers to be deliberately provocative and to amuse themselves! I suspect this name may have been given even earlier than that though.
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What a handsome creature. I’m glad he hung around for long enough for you to get a couple of photographs. (I do wonder how it got its name though;-))
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I shall look out for them around here – I’ve heard the name many times, but didn’t know what to look for before – thanks.
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Thank you – I think you are most likely to see them in the evening, especially if you have trees close by- they are quite big and clumsy and can’t seem to resist lights in windows, they are even attracted to street lights. Poor simple things!
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