Each year a large number of stag beetles are crushed on the roads (road-kills), victims of either pedestrian or vehicular traffic. Observations of road-kills made by the author in Bentley (Suffolk) from 1989-97 (Hawes, 1998) led to a pilot study of road-kills at a number of other sites in Suffolk, carried out during the stag beetle season of 2000 (White Admiral 47: 34). The aim of the study was threefold:
1. to confirm the presence of breeding populations at the sites studied
2. to determine the ratio of females to males killed on the roads
3. to find out if the survey method could be used to calculate an index of abundance.
Using a method devised by the author, twelve volunteers counted the beetles found squashed on specified stretches of road – known to be sites of previous stag beetle sightings – over a period from the last week of May to the end of August. A wide variety of road types, ranging from country lanes to busy town streets was deliberately selected for the survey, whilst the intensity of surveying was left to what individual surveyors could manage. It was suggested that this could be on all suitable days or every set number of days, with the proviso that the minimum intensity should be one count per week. Live beetles were also counted. Six of the volunteers were able to survey for the whole of the stag beetle season. The results of the survey are summarised below.
ROAD KILLS
LIVE BEETLES ON ROAD
MalesFemalesSex UnknownTotal
MalesFemalesTotal
279516138
142438
A total of 176 beetles were found on the roads surveyed. At the lowest estimate, female to male road-kills occurred in a ratio of 3.5:1. Analysis of road-kill data for stag beetles collected at Bentley (1989-97) produced a female to male ratio of 7:1 (Hawes, 1998) Thus, compared to males, it seems that females are more likely to become casualties on the roads. The most likely explanation for this can be found by examining the difference in locomotory behaviour between the sexes. Although female beetles can fly, most of their time is spent on the ground searching for suitable deadwood habitat in which to lay their eggs. Often, ideal habitat is close at hand and therefore there is no need for them to travel far. Males, on the other hand, fly to search out a female with which to mate and consequently spend much less time on the ground.
The beetles, which move slowly when walking, are especially vulnerable if they venture on to the carriageway. Large numbers of squashed individuals have been found along roads, which run adjacent to mature hedges containing their breeding habitat. It has been suggested that the warmth of the road surface might be attractive to the beetles, as it can be to other wildlife (Bowdrey, 1997).
This summer, the People’s Trust for Endangered Species will be targeting keen recorders who contributed to the 1998 National Stag Beetle Survey to ask if they would be willing to participate in a National Stag Beetle Road-kill Survey. This will be based on the methodology used in the successful Suffolk road-kill pilot study. Keen volunteers are required to take part in the Suffolk section of this survey, which the author will be co-ordinating. If you are willing to help, please contact him before the end of April 2003 at 3 Silver Leys, Bentley, Ipswich IP9 2BS, telephone 01473 310678 or e-mail colinjhawes@btopenworld.com
In 2002, SNS and Council member Neil Sherman discovered that a female stag beetle had come to light in a moth trap set up at Ipswich Golf Club the previous evening. There are anecdotal records of stag beetles being attracted to light, for example street and house lights, but there is no scientific evidence that they respond to this stimulus. Can moth recorders and other readers of White Admiral help.Any records you send me will be most useful.
Records are required of all stag beetle sightings made in 2003. Please send them directly to me (they will be forwarded to the SBRC and the People’s Trust) and include the date and location of the sightings (site name, and grid reference if possible) and your name and address. A telephone contact number is also useful, if there are any queries.
Stag beetle corpses are also required for a study on variation in size. If you can help, please send them to me in a small sealed container and include details of: location of find, date, and an address. A telephone contact number is also useful.
Bowdrey, J.P. (1997). The stag beetle Lucanus cervus L. (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) in north-east Essex:
Results of the 1996 Colchester “Search for Stag Beetles” survey. The Essex Naturalist 1997. 79-88.
Hawes, C. J. (1998). The stag beetle Lucanus cervus L. (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) in Suffolk – a first
report. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc.34: 35-49.
Colin Hawes, Bentley
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