Monday 29 May 2017

Flight Night


Last night the stag beetles took flight, this was the main event and the epicentre of Stag-Fest was my back garden - and what a spectacular sight it was.

There is a limited stag beetle flight-night most years but the main event - the really big ones and lots of them - only happens once every seven years...


It takes a stag beetle 7 years to reach maturity (spending most of its life as a grub) and when they take flight they only have about a week left - fight, breed and die!

So the next big event will be in 2024 - hopefully I'll have a better camera by then. But a rainstorm last night may have interrupted proceedings, so they might be out again tonight - fingers crossed.


What has this got to do with fishing?

They don't normally fly until mid-June, nature is about 3 weeks ahead of itself. The last of the spawners have spawned (carp and barbel) - everything is ready for the new season - just over 2 weeks.

And I've uploaded a couple of videos of these mini-monsters to Instagram (no login needed), awesome creatures.

10 comments:

  1. Somethings like spawning are early, others late. Topsy turvy world.

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  2. Varies from place to place, I know the local barbel and carp have already spawned. Last year I saw pike spawning in June (and the stag beetles didn't fly at all).

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    1. *same river I saw the pike spawning in March this year.

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  3. Those photos are awesome ! I want one, may go have a look this evening

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    1. Seemed to all be over in one night, seen a few stragglers on Instagram so keeping an eye out for the next week.

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    2. And I found one tonight on the path in Balham (and took him to the park where hopefully he won't get stepped on).

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  4. you can have any that come near me! i thought it was brian's new lure!

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  5. Gotta love the stag beetle, I wish we had them in this area.
    I found one floating in a French pond and scared my sunbathing wife with it. My lad wanted to take it home as a keepsake so left it in a dish in the tent.

    Next morning it twitched and an hour later was climbing a tree. Incredible recovery, incredible insect.

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    1. I only saw an alive one when I moved to London - now I keep a special look out for them - they fly around 16 June, and for some reason that date sticks in my mind!

      I go out especially to watch the beetles in the evening when in the south of France, quite a few variations of stag beetles and the fantastic looking rhinoceros beetle...

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