Here she is getting rather wet - and so was my washing, as I didn't want to disturb her.
What a shock I got when I went to unpeg my knickers from the washing line and almost put my hand on this fearsome beast! I feel quite sorry for her as the ideal conditions for mating involve warm, dry weather, not rain like we are getting now.
Stag beetles spend 3-5 years as a larva fattening up in rotting wood, then they turn into a pupa and finally hatch out around the end of May. They fly between May and August, not eating for this entire period and after mating, the female lays anything up to 90 eggs, often dividing them between several locations. After her task is complete, she dies, which makes me very glad I am human!
I think her antennae look just like the twirly moustache on the opera singer in the Go Compare ads!
