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irene24

By Irene24

Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom

Huge bugs in the garden at night does any one know what they are
They are that big I wont go in the garden after dusk unless I am carrying a tennis racket as they fly into me and they give me the creeps oooohh lol




Answers

 

It looks like a May Bug or Cockchafer as they are known.
Harmless, unless one gets stuck in your hair.
Just put a tin hat on Irene or dig your hairnet out.

21 May, 2013

 

I would say that's a May bug but I haven't seen one for years. Horrible things but they don't last for long.

21 May, 2013

 

Thank you all will keep the racket handy and dig out the tin helmett lol

21 May, 2013

 

Very rare these days too.

21 May, 2013

 

They really buzz when they are flying. You see a lot round lights in May. I feel quite sorry for them as they spend years as a very ugly grub under the lawn and only a few short days or weeks in May when they mate and lay their eggs.

21 May, 2013

 

Don't kill 'em! They're part of the great natural world we live in. Yes, the grubs can be damaging to lawns, but they're also food for jackdaws. The adults are owl and larger bat species food. And, close up, they're awesome great beetles.

21 May, 2013

 

Good on yer Worthy - I like them.

21 May, 2013

 

I am not going to kill them ! Just afraid of them !

21 May, 2013

 

May Bug or Cockchafer.

Interesting beetles; They are only around for a few weeks of the year so the tin hat will only be required for a short time.

It is the grubs that develop from the eggs laid by the darn bugs that can cause havoc with some plants should there be a proliferation of them. - They love grass: Equally as Worthy1 points out, they are a good source of food for jackdaws and starlings and no doubt various other birds.

It is said that they (Cockchafer) time their arrival with the May-Tree (Hawthorn/Crataegus) blossom; And I can give evidence of such a thing - Years ago the garden had a hawthorn tree and every year when it blossomed so would the influx of May-bugs.

I still don't like 'em buzzing around the ears!

22 May, 2013

 

Found one this morning, first time we have seen them in our garden.

22 May, 2013

 

Perhaps it's going to be a good year for May bugs, swallows, and flowers and fruit, like the good old days, when it was always sunny in summer!

23 May, 2013

How do I say thanks?

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