Devil's Coach Horse beetle

[Cypress]

Are they rarer nowadays? I found one in my porch the other week, hadn't seen one for years - me & my brother used to go a-hunting for wild things when we were kids and used to find lots of devil's coach horse & stag beetles, but they don't seem to be about as much now.

[leifus]

i havent seen one for a few years either

[Cypress]

They're still lovely, lol!!
I had to spend 5 minutes trying to gently coax him out the door frame before I could go out!

[Hedge Witch]

I'd say rarer. There are loads of critters I remember "playing" with when younger that I hardly see any more. (Just put up my log pile though - so where there's death there's hope ).

[Dogghound]

There are still good numbers around here, when you are younger this always seem different, maybe you spent more time looking than you remember. Although if there are large numbers of slug pellets used then these beetles will suffer from it. They are one Insect that really has a powerful bite, infact in my opinion they are the worst so avoid handling them if you can.

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

There are still good numbers around here, when you are younger this always seem different, maybe you spent more time looking than you remember. Although if there are large numbers of slug pellets used then these beetles will suffer from it. They are one Insect that really has a powerful bite, infact in my opinion they are the worst so avoid handling them if you can.

Eek! In the summer I picked one up that was in a carpark and transported it in my glasses case to a safe place. Luckily it didn't nip me.

[Cypress]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

They are one Insect that really has a powerful bite, infact in my opinion they are the worst so avoid handling them if you can.

Ha! I learned that at a very young age too

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by Cypress

when we were kids and used to find lots of devil's coach horse & stag beetles, but they don't seem to be about as much now.

Interesting - stag beetles are a southern counties insect, but I see you're in Worcestershire, so you wouldn't expect to see them. Did you live in the south when you were young, and see them there?

Jim

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

Interesting - stag beetles are a southern counties insect, but I see you're in Worcestershire, so you wouldn't expect to see them. Did you live in the south when you were young, and see them there?

Jim

There's population in Gloucestershire which although south of Worcs is not a million miles away

[RED]

There's plenty devils coach horse beetles round my area. (Newcastle upon Tyne)

The reason they're here is probably down to me, same as the snail population.

As a kid I was fascinated with insects etc and had loads of them in tanks and jars etc. (Has a 3ft fishtank as a 'snailery' lol) When we moved here there was a big lean-to thing on the side of the garage, so I filled it with soil, and emptied all my critters into that. Needless to say they all got out and have repopulated the estate.
Although good in a way, the snails are a pest as they always manage to get in the greenhouse and munch our tomatoes and lettuce !!!
However, they seem to be attracting more favourable wildlife, two or three frogs (Saw one lastnight, really fat, poor thing had a front foot missing, presumably a run-in with a neighbours cat, but he was certainly doing well, hopefully hoovering up the snails and slugs from the garden =D )