Stag beetle discovery during school session

Jamie the KIW trainee here again, earlier in the traineeship while helping assist in a community engagement school session we were lucky enough to discover a female stag beetle hiding beneath a large log at the Centre for Wildlife & Gardening. While It was one of the children who made the discovery, I made sure to have a good look at this rare beetle! The stag beetle is Britain's largest beetle with males reaching almost 8cm in length, although the beetle pictured here is in fact a female - this is given away by it's lack of large antler shaped jaws (which males would use to wrestle other males while searching for a mate). While this is a rare beetle which is unfortunately declining across Europe, London remains a strong hold for this fearsome beetle - particularly around south London thanks to the great North wood.