Flying stag beetles Lucanus cervus

Stag beetles are crepuscular insects which tend to fly on warm evenings and sometimes carry on well into the night. They fly out in search for a mate.
Here is a unique collection of fantastic flying photos. They were all taken by András Andrási in his garden, Budapest, Hungary. Please ask for permission if you want to use them.
András has very generously given them to this site for three consecutive seasons, for which we are all extremely grateful to him. Click here for the technical details for the 2004 season. From 2005 András slowed down the shutter speed and got more stunning images which convey the action much better.
2008 photos can be seen in Andras website here. Magnificent. Every year Andras manages to notch up significant improvements! Congratulations and thank you!

Below each picture is the date and time (GMT) of when it was taken.

Note that all photos have been taken from the end of June onwards. Surprisingly these dates are very late for England when peak flying activity is early to mid June. It seems that further south flying activity carries on throughout July.

Male stag beetle flying at sunset against a warm stormy sky, a good flying night. In some cultures their names have even been associated with the god of lightning, see Thunder beetle and Donnerpuppe. However during the 2005 season we found no correlation with thunder at all.

2004:07:08 19:30:06

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Male stag beetle getting ready to take off from a tree.

2005:07:04 19:15:34

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Male stag beetle soon after take off.

2005:06:24 18:58:52

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Male stag beetle, rear view. Their wing span is roughly over twice their body length, excluding the mandibles. For example a male 44 mm long will have an impressive wing span of just over 90 mm.

Male stag beetle with wings fully stretched, 2004

2004:07:07 20:54:53

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Female stag beetle with her soft wings just unfurled, very soon after take off. It is very difficult indeed to catch females in flight. Their wing span is also a bit over twice their body length, excluding the mandibles. For example a 38 mm female might have a wing span of 83 mm.

Female stag beetle geting ready to fly, 2004

2004:07:21 20:35:06

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Frontal view of a flying stag beetle. Note the characteristic stabilizing position of the hind legs, in particular the position of the feet.

Stag beetle flying straight at the camera, 2004

2004:07:18 21:05:20

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Rear view of a flying stag beetle.

Stag beetle flying away from the camera, 2005

2005:07:04 17:42:17

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Flying male stag beetle with blurred wings. This is András' favourite photo of the 2005 season! What do you think?

2005:07:04 17:42:45

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Profile view of a flying male stag beetle with its wings fully down, and blurred. This is one step up from 2005!

Flying male stag beetle, wings fully down, 2006

2006:06:29 20:07

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An almost vertical male stag beetle in flight, another recent shot. Compare with the earlier one below.

2006:06:29 19:48

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Earlier photo of a profile view of a male stag beetle in flight. Which one do you like best?

2004:07:20 19:59:10

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Side view of a flying male stag beetle trailing something. What is it?

Male stag beetle trailing something, 2004

2004:07:19 20:07:58

Probably what this stag beetle is trailing is a bit of thistle down. Around where we live, in the summer, there are countless of these parachute type seeds, and I'm not surprised that one got stuck into a beetle perhaps while he was hiding during the day. In any case if you disagree or have a better idea don't hesitate in contacting me, as I would love to hear from you.

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Lastly, a flying male stag beetle, viewed from underneath.
Let's hope that it did find a mate ;-)

Flying male stag beetle, underside view, 2006

2006:07:10 20:05

What with all that wing flapping flying stag beetles are rather noisy.
Luckily, for those who haven't heard that yet, I have got a very nice surprise: the sound of their flight, courtesy of the Bullard family.
Did you like it? If you would like a bit more, there is an even longer file.
They sound a bit bass heavy and somehow it reminds me of the film Jurassic Park!
In 2001 John Allen recorded and uploaded the Sounds of the beetle.

Lets do all we can to preserve them, so that the generations to come will still be able to enjoy the magnificent sight and sound of a flying stag beetle.

Links:
The Flying Stag Beetle, by Maria Fremlin, The AES Bug Club Magazine, December 2007. [PDF]
Photo of a flying male stag beetle, profile, a present from Mark Jones. Photo taken in Wimbledon Common, England.

Last modified: Fri Jun 8 16:36:08 BST 2012