The Great Stag Hunt – an important citizen science survey run by wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) – is back for its 29th year and for the first time, PTES wants your video or audio clips of spectacular stag beetles in flight too.
PTES is keen for as many people across Britain as possible to take part in the Great Stag Hunt and record visual sightings of stag beetles, as the data they help to collect makes a valuable contribution to stag beetle conservation efforts. Conservationists hope that, in future, it might be possible to monitor stag beetles acoustically by using software to recognise the characteristic ‘thrumming’ of the beetles in flight. However, PTES needs lots of video and audio data first to explore whether this is possible. Every contribution is important – whether visual, audio, or video – and it’s simple to take part.
The European stag beetle (to distinguish it from the smaller, lesser stag beetle) is native to Britain where its distribution has changed little over the past century. However, the long-running survey has found that sites where the beetle is found are becoming scarcer in some areas and that numbers of beetles, too, may be declining. Data from the Great Stag Hunt is vital for conservationists to track these changes, particularly in the current climate crisis.
If you’d like to take part, keep an eye out for stag beetles on warm evenings and report any sightings online atptes.org/gsh. Whether you’re walking the dog, commuting, doing the school run or heading to the pub, every recorded sighting is valuable. No prior experience is needed either. PTES’ online ID guides will help you identify a stag beetle from similar insects and you can also upload images, video and sound files.
Stag beetles are often found in urban and suburban gardens and parks, as well as woodland edges and the wider countryside. They’re also often spotted basking on sunlit walls and warm tarmac surfaces, while their larvae (large white grubs) are found underground, among the roots of old tree stumps. Males are instantly recognisable with their distinctive antler-like jaws and are often seen flying on warm, still evenings in summer, in search of females, which are slightly smaller and lack the impressive ‘antlers’. Stag beetles are mostly found in southern England (except the chalky soils of the North and South Downs), but there are hotspots in the Severn Valley and in coastal parts of the south west.
Last year, over 12,000 records of stag beetles were submitted by thousands of volunteers, with over 2500 spotted in Hampshire, over 1600 in Surrey and over 1000 in Greater London. But do get in touch wherever you spot a stag beetle, as each year sightings are often recorded in unexpected regions which help to build a national picture of how stag beetles are faring.
David Wembridge, Conservation Research and Strategy Officer at People’s Trust for Endangered Species, who runs the Great Stag Hunt said: ‘The extraordinary adult beetles that you might see in the summer are only half the story. The larvae, which develop into big, white grubs with orange heads, feed on rotting wood in the soil, often at the base of an old tree stump or fence post. They’ll grow, hidden away, for three to five years before emerging as adults in late May. It’s the loss of these deadwood habitats that we think might be impacting stag beetle numbers, and why it’s so important to retain or create these sorts of habitat in your garden.’
Other top tips to help stag beetles
- Leave old tree stumps and deadwood in situ, to encourage stag beetles.
- If you see a stag beetle on a road or other tarmac surface, carefully move it into a garden border or nearby green space. They’re gentle giants, despite their appearance!
- Cover any water butts and if you have a pond, make sure there’s an escape route.
- Minimise the use of weed matting so that stag beetles can easily emerge from the soil.
- If you live in a stag beetle hotspot, record your sighting on the Great Stag Hunt, or take part in the Stag Beetle Count (stagbeetles.ptes.org/stag-beetle-count/), a more in-depth survey.
Nida Al-Fulaij, CEO at People’s Trust for Endangered Species added: ‘Data gathered from citizen science surveys such as the Great Stag Hunt are essential for tracking progress towards the government’s legally binding biodiversity targets outlined in the Environmental Act 2021. Understanding trends in invertebrate populations is challenging but, with the public’s help, we can learn more about the smaller creatures who share our world and target conservation efforts effectively.’
To find out more, visit stagbeetles.ptes.org and if you’re on social media, PTES would love to see your stag beetle snaps and videos if you’re lucky enough to spot one (#GreatStagHunt and tag @PTES)!
