The bugs are back in town…
I think they are fantastic and a real harbinger of Summer but my wife has a mass of curlie hair and is less keen on them 😀

Ahhh… the South.

Watch out, watch out, there’s a Cockchafer about

my wife has a mass of curlie hair

snigger

Oooh they’re back.

Should see some around here in a few weeks hopefully.

You get them up there?

I thought maybe this was another thread about phimosis…

Yup we do Kelvin.

Interesting insects, just avoided being hit in the face by one on a couple of occasions when out riding, and I always wore eye protection.

I used to have a kids book on nature when I was really young (I think it was one of those kitsch Ladybird books with the hand drawings) with a picture of one of these in and it scared the pants off me. Didn’t see one in real life until 2001 when we were over on the Isle of Man and we got loads of them there. Noisy things but totally harmless.

Harmless, but dumb.
They are expert at flying right in front of your face at 30km/h when riding thru the forest.

Not seen any yet this year. But then I’ve not seen so many at all in recent years. In 2003 there were swarms of them. Dead bodies everywhere near work (right on edge of forest) after they’ve done their business.

Dunno what they were but we dug out loads of larve/grubbs from the roots whilst ripping out a laurel last week. About the size of my tumbs!

Not seen any yet this year. But then I’ve not seen so many at all in recent years.

They appear in cycles of upto 5 years and only for a few weeks so easy to miss them.

We had one in the garden a couple of years ago & unfortunately (for it) I thought it was a cockroach.

It was a quick death though. 😕

I was told as a kid they were Maybugs and deadly dangerous.