maybugs

My birthday’s in October, so having purchased a moth light trap with birthday money last year, the trap is only now beginning to come into its own.

After a few dull brown moths and the occasional slightly more interesting specimen during the earlier months of the year, it was with some excitement that we finally had our first hawk moth this week, in mid-June.

So I promptly enjoyed taking these pics before releasing it on to the honeysuckle at the bottom of our garden, where I hoped it might feed when dusk fell that evening.

Elephant hawk 3 — Face to face with Nature

Such incredible colours Nature has given to these creatures.

Keeping the Elephant Hawk and a few other moths company in the trap that morning was a Cockchafer.

Not unusual for a Maybug, as it’s also known, to be attracted to light, but it’s a handsome hunk of a beetle, with these striking, fan-like antennae…

and I have to admit I’m rather proud of these two head-on pics in particular.

(All photos taken by me, but not copyright – i.e. feel free to use them, with my blessing!)

Last night we saw 2 Cockchafers – aka Maybugs (or Melolontha melolontha) – on Briscoe’s Walk, just up the road from our house, where we walk Gorka, our dog, in the evening.

Again today I saw 2 or 3 of these scarab beetles as I was walking back home with Gorka just after 9pm, as the sun was setting.

I stuck around to see if I could get a photo or two. As I waited, more and more Maybugs appeared out of their slumber, until about 20 of them could be seen whirring around the tops of the trees.

Unfortunately they weren’t coming down low enough for me to get a photo. And the light was fading fast.

I eventually discovered that Gorka was sniffing at the occasional one that did land on the ground, so I was able to pick one up and photograph it on my hand.