What An Interesting Day...

[gness]

...first the bees in the bird box....sleeping now but still with the guards around the entrance...

Then lots of gardening where I uncovered frog after frog....large ones and tiny ones...

But tonight, noodling here with the door open I was puzzled by a strange buzzing and crackling sound......and discovered a Cockchafer walking up the mug tree....it has many names.....I have never seen one before and it is the most fascinating beetle.....

I have had a google and in Avignon in 1320 cockchafers were taken to court and ordered to leave town...if they didn't comply they would be killed..
They have remarkable antennae....just like antlers....the male seven leaves and the female six....these allow the males to detect females in the dark.....(bet you'd like that...;-)...)
I have a female in the kitchen...and I'm delighted but will return it to the wild....google it......so interesting......Gx

[gness]

And here it is...

[sunny-dave]

I've had one hit me when I've been out walking at twilight, but never seen one close enough to examine properly - big things aren't they?

[gness]

This was a good inch long, Dave...just beautiful....x

[Buenchico]

Tell Dave that there's a new male in your life . . .
http://media.discovermine.com/images/view/55511cae27f7ba6c6d00003d/blog/?r=0.42605313658714294

[pastafreak]

Apparently there was an invasion of the beasties last summer.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3624821/The-chubby-insects-terrorising-Britain-s-backyards-plague-fat-flying-beetles-garden-home.html
Also called doodlebugs...I like that name. :-)

[gness]

Oh, Chris...couldn't you just fall for that look...you want to take him home and....... ;-)....x

[gness]

So it would seem, Pasta...the first I've ever seen......and it is so noisy!......I like doodlebug....x

[shoota]

I would like a female cockchafer....

[gness]

Hey!!!! Welcome back, lovely....a breath of fresh air!...and just as cheeky.....

All well with you?..........x

[shoota]

Hello my little chafer....
I'm fine but AB is as stoopid as ever...

[gness]

Well we're in a dip for sure.......hard to have fun without some lonely numpty trying to pour water on it......but hey, you're back so that's a plus.....xxx

[shoota]

True, true...

[aelmpvw]

// in Avignon in 1320 cockchafers were taken to court //
who counted 'em?

[rockyracoon]

They're quite cute for a bug, with their long eyelashy things.

[aelmpvw]

ignore me, i missed the 'in' after Avignon

[gness]

Ignore you, Ael?...As if!...x

They are, Rocky......crazy and suicidal in the way they fly into the window and fall to the ground....but lovely...x

[Chipchopper]

I remember, some years ago walking across a field (nr Thetford, Norfolk) and these beetles were everywhere, bit creepy.

I'd like to add to the list of common names, by calling them the Al Jolson beetle, with reference to the waving hand-like structures on the male antennae.

[gness]

Oh, Chip!...That is so spot on......yes, I can just imagine that!

They are odd, aren't they......they only live for six weeks and seem to spend those weeks crashing into anything and everything....
But I'm chuffed to have seen one so close up.....x

[Tilly2]

Gness, you can start a new career as a naturalist. :-)

[gness]

How long till somebody misreads that, Tilly...... ;-)