Stag beetles
Jul 3, 2026 · 46 min · 11 segments
Upton upon Severn is Worcestershire's stag beetle hotspot. In fact, the town and surrounding villages are the only places in Worcestershire where these giant beetles are found. Join host Lee as he…
Jul 3, 2026 · 46 min · 11 segments
Upton upon Severn is Worcestershire's stag beetle hotspot. In fact, the town and surrounding villages are the only places in Worcestershire where these giant beetles are found. Join host Lee as he…
Eleanor ReastGuest
Lee RobinsonHost
Right, because I've heard the soil around here described as alluvial, which I think means basically that it's been underwater.
Which the area we're currently stood in does actually flood, or it used to flood.
So Upton's quite prone to flooding, so maybe that might be something to do with it.
For anyone who has never seen one before, what exactly is a stag beetle and why do they capture people's imagination so much?
So the males... can range huge variety in in size actually so they range from about four centimeters up to about eight centimeters in size and the females still really hefty but they're about up to five centimeters and they're they're black in color apart from the abdomens wing cases are this really lovely chestnut brown and very glossy But I suppose the thing they're most famous for, the male has these fantastic antler-like mandibles, which are very deer-like, very antler-like, hence stag beetle.
So as you've just sort of hinted there, the males have those sort of extraordinary antler-like jaws.
And for anybody that's perhaps not seen them before, they might look a little bit intimidating.
They do look quite ferocious, actually, and if I was an insect, I would be terrified.
They're not spectacular, but she does have... quite big mouth parts and she might give you a little nip but the males the males don't but they're not dangerous they're not they're not a problem in your garden because they are only interested in eating dead wood decaying wood that's that's um that their key key diet
Right, so at the moment we're, I say we're stood sort of out on one of the fields and it's quite a sort of warm muggy early evening.
So it tends to be around dusk that they fly and they're looking for other females.
Right, because I've heard the soil around here described as alluvial, which I think means basically that it's been underwater.
Which the area we're currently stood in does actually flood, or it used to flood.
So Upton's quite prone to flooding, so maybe that might be something to do with it.
For anyone who has never seen one before, what exactly is a stag beetle and why do they capture people's imagination so much?
So the males... can range huge variety in in size actually so they range from about four centimeters up to about eight centimeters in size and the females still really hefty but they're about up to five centimeters and they're they're black in color apart from the abdomens wing cases are this really lovely chestnut brown and very glossy But I suppose the thing they're most famous for, the male has these fantastic antler-like mandibles, which are very deer-like, very antler-like, hence stag beetle.
So as you've just sort of hinted there, the males have those sort of extraordinary antler-like jaws.
And for anybody that's perhaps not seen them before, they might look a little bit intimidating.
They do look quite ferocious, actually, and if I was an insect, I would be terrified.
They're not spectacular, but she does have... quite big mouth parts and she might give you a little nip but the males the males don't but they're not dangerous they're not they're not a problem in your garden because they are only interested in eating dead wood decaying wood that's that's um that their key key diet
Right, so at the moment we're, I say we're stood sort of out on one of the fields and it's quite a sort of warm muggy early evening.
So it tends to be around dusk that they fly and they're looking for other females.
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