The May Bug

The May Bugs or cockchafer's (Melolontha melolontha) have returned earlier than usual. My first sighting of this large beetle was on the 21st April. Adults usually appear in May to June and live for about five to seven weeks. After about two weeks, the female begins laying eggs, which she buries about 10 to 20 cm deep in the earth. She may do this several times until she has laid between 60 and 80 eggs. The common may bug lays its eggs in fields, whereas the Forest May bug stays in the vicinity of the trees. The preferred food for adults is oak leaves, but they will also feed on conifer needles.

Mark Aldron Image - wikipedia.com - may bug

The larvae, known as "white grubs" or "chafer grubs", hatch after some four to six weeks. They feed on plant roots, for instance potato roots. The grubs develop in the earth for some three to four years, in colder climates even five years, and grow continually to a size of about 4–5 cm, before they pupate in early autumn and develop into a cockchafer in some six weeks.

The May bug overwinters in the earth at depths between 20 and 100 cm. They work their way to the surface only in spring.Because of their long development time as larvae, may bugs appear in a cycle of every three or four years; the years vary from region to region. There is a larger cycle of some 30 years superimposed, in which they occur (or rather, used to occur) in unusually high numbers (10000s).

Once abundant throughout Europe and a major pest in the periodical years of "mass flight", it had been nearly eradicated in the middle of the 20th century through extensive use of pesticides and has even been locally exterminated in many regions. However, since an increase in regulation of pest control beginning in the 1980s, its numbers have started to grow again.

Unfortunately I only had a compact camera to photograph this extraordinary creature , but this is what I got.

Location : Alderton Drive, Ashridge
Date: 21st April 2011
Time: 10pm - 11pm
Weather: Cold westerly winds, night time, extensive cloud covor.  
Map Reference: SP 968132