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Female stag beetle Lucanus cervus videos

Female stag beetles are often seen walking, sometimes even during the day. They are looking for suitable places to lay their eggs. On this page there are some examples of that behaviour; all videos have been posted in YouTube.

Below is a female stag beetle walking at the beginning of the season. This video was taken on 12 June 2010. I found her on the pavement of a rather busy road - Maldon Road, Colchester.
Nearby there is a very old tree, Acer negundo, which has a very good colony of lesser stag beetles and is also often visited by stag beetles.

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Another female stag beetle walking, rather briskly. This one was taken in a alleyway, on 11 July 2008. A place safer from the traffic but no so much from pedestrians. Lots of stag beetles get trapped in this alleyway because there are a lot of stag beetle nests in the gardens the other side of the fences.

Sorry about the poor resolution. I don't know what happened during the upload to YouTube, the original was OK.

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Now, this last video is of a female towards the end of the season, 28 July 2011. She has probably come out from laying her last clutch of eggs and is extremely slow, nearing the end of her life.

Shocking as it may be for you, she has probably had a sip from the moisture on that fresh fox poo on top of that log. At this stage they like drinking.
For more about this female, click here.

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This female stag beetle is trying to burrow herself next to a stump, but the soil was too dry. This was a very important finding because this particular stump has proved to be a very good breeding spot. For more more click here.

For more about other stag beetle nests click here.

Last modified: Mon Mar 7 2016

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