Cockchafter/May Bug

[Julia]

My daughter found one of these by the computer.  It buzzed loudly.  My partner said "That's a Billywitch".  I've never heard of that, but he is from Suffolk, so perhaps that's what they call them over there?

Anyway, first I've ever seen  in my 46 years.  Hopefully not a pest.  Only seen the one.  Took outside and put on garden table.  Photo inserted (hopefully).

[Julia]

[hippydave]

This is the male of the species as the femals have short antenae, the  beetles are harmless and look for mates at this time of year and are very active during dusk and into the night. They only live for six to seven weeks and are not as common now as they were a few years ago.

[betula]

I found one of these on the curtain in our caravan a few weeks ago.
Huge. :o :o :o

[star]

When I was a kid I used to catch one and let it crawl over my hands. Also put the poor thing in a matchbox to take to school for the day as my pet ::).

I cant stand the things near me now though :-X

[Robert_Brenchley]

When I was a kid we used to go and stay in a caravan in the Wye Valley, and we always had them coming in the wndows. The beetles are harmless; the larvae live for about three years, and feed on grass roots.

[ceres]

Ugh! These are the horrid white larvae I feed to the birds.

[sarah]

we get loads of them here in bournemouth i dont know why.  i never saw one or heard of them until i moved here.  i'm not keen on them they are a bit buzzy but as robert says they are harmeless.

[glosterwomble]

I had never heard about them until a few years ago and I'm 35. I have always lived in a rural location but had never heard of them or seen them. The first one I saw was crawling past my kettle at 11pm one night and I nearly passed out thinking it was a cockroach!! URRRRGGHHHH!

[Robert_Brenchley]

I thought they were cockroaches when I first saw them, but being keen on bugs I soon sorted out what they were. We had cockroaches not long after we married; some racist so-and-so was dropping them through the letterbox. They look quite different, very flat so they can wriggle into narrow crevices, and they run like mad.

[Julia]

I had never heard about them until a few years ago and I'm 35. I have always lived in a rural location but had never heard of them or seen them. The first one I saw was crawling past my kettle at 11pm one night and I nearly passed out thinking it was a cockroach!! URRRRGGHHHH!

:D  made me laugh.  I too, briefly thought a roach.  Made a typo btw meant cockchafer.  Don't know where the 't' came from.

[betula]

Yes I thought roach,thought for a bit I was going to have to turn the place upside down with cleaning. ;D

[tonybloke]

they find each other by smell, and usually congregate at or near the tops of trees. seagulls hunt them there! if you are in the middle of open space, you become highest thing there, so they sometimes accumulate round peoples heads in parkland. ;D ;D ;D

[Old bird]

Once, when I lived in Sussex, I took a new dog to me - an afghan hound - into this large enclosed field for a run!  It was not good at returning which is why we used this particular large field.

It was dusk and June time I think.  Anyway - these things - I thought they were called June Bugs but May bugs sits as well - started bumping into me and I tried to get said dog back and out and away from these horrendous things - which sounded like dive bombers and it was quite ghastly.  I was getting quite hysterical as these things must have had that field as their mating venue for the whole of Sussex!  There were literally hundreds of the bl***y things!

I eventually, after much screeching, got the dog back and cleared off.  But the thought of that night and those horrendous insects lives with me as a complete nightmare!!

Old Bird

;D