{"id":16767,"date":"2022-05-25T12:18:54","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T10:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.countryfile.com\/?p=16472"},"modified":"2022-05-25T14:24:15","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T12:24:15","slug":"save-the-stag-beetle","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/rss_feed\/save-the-stag-beetle\/","title":{"rendered":"Save the stag beetle!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Joe Pontin\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 25 May 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The stag beetle, if you have never seen one, is huge \u2013 Britain\u2019s biggest land insect.\u00a0The male, anyway; it measures up to 7.5cm or 3 inches (including those huge horns, or mandibles).<\/p>\n

Stag beetles are awesome things to spot \u2013 look out for them in gardens, parks, woodland edges, hedgerows<\/a> and traditional orchards \u2013 but these days they are harder to find because they are officially endangered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know stag beetles live in woodlands in mainland Europe, but we don\u2019t know whether they\u2019re living in UK woodlands,\u201d explains Laura Bower, Conservation Officer at wildlife charity the People\u2019s Trust for Endangered Species<\/a> (PTES).<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough these beautiful beetles are doing well in some parts of the country, in other areas they\u2019re extremely rare and even extinct in some places. It\u2019s so important to find out whether our woodlands are home to stag beetles or not, and we want to encourage anyone living near a woodland to keep their eyes peeled when they\u2019re out for a walk, perhaps even just walking the dog, and tell us if they spot one of these iconic insects.<\/p>\n

<\/b>\u201cSadly, like so much of our native wildlife, stag beetles are under threat. Habitat loss is the biggest issue facing these beetles, either when green spaces and woodlands become developed, or when parks and gardens become too tidy and any dead or decaying wood present \u2013 which is a vital food source for stag beetles \u2013 is removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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