I found the beetle pictured on the pavement outside the house last night. I’ve seen dead stag beetles before but this is the first time I have found a live one. I think they are more common down South but I am not sure of this. To give you a rough idea of the size… it’s body was around 5cm long.

Strangely, last night’s edition of Springwatch had a short film about Stag beetles from which I learnt they can fly. You’d certainly know about it if one of these flew in your eye! The one we found is a female and lacks the “antlers” that give the species its name.