Stag beetles - messengers from the thunder god!

Among the dead wood in the woodlands, stag beetles emerge. Stag beetles spend the majority of their lives underground as larvae. They feed on decaying wood and old stumps in the ground, below ground level. This is why, more often than not, they are found in woodlands, gardens, and parks.

Male stag beetle

They can live in their larval stage for up to 7 years, and during this time, they go through 3 larval stages. In their third stage, the larvae can be as large as your finger. They will pupate in a cell made from wood and soil and emerge as adults in June. The males will emerge first as they pupate closer to the surface and have the added hindrance of those huge mandibles.

Stag beetle larvae

Once they emerge as adults, they only live for a few weeks with one purpose: to reproduce. Once they become adults, they lose their ability to eat, although they have been known to drink tree sap, but survive on the fat produced as larvae.

The males' huge stag-like mandibles are used to challenge other males, and in a scuffle, their aim is to unbalance their opponent by damaging their tarsal claws, which act like feet. Male stag beetles are very easily unbalanced by their heavy mandibles and cannot move quickly. Damaging the tarsal claw can cause serious harm to an already unsteady beetle. Stag beetles would rather take off into a rattling flight to get away from danger.

The stag beetle is no threat to us, and you are more likely to get a pinch from a female, whose mandibles are very small but powerful compared to the male's.

Female stag beetle

Here in the New Forest, there was once an old superstition that stag beetles were commonly known as the devil’s imp and were thought to do damage to crops, leading to them being stoned when seen. Please don’t do this; these incredible beetles are endangered, and as we now know, they can do no harm to crops or to humans, and they tidy our woodlands and gardens. Others believed they were bringers of storms, or a message from the thunder god. It was said that putting a stag beetle on your head during a storm would protect you from a lightning strike. Please don’t do this either!