1/6/09: Stags and Elephants in my Barnehurst garden

Here are a couple of the bigger insect visitors that can be found in local gardens.

20th May: This male Stag Beetle was rescued from a neighbour's garden netting, next to my garden wall, after I heard a loudish rustling sound at about half past eight in the evening.

This species is globally-threatened, rare and protected in some European countries. Its British range is internationally important, and it is frequent in much of south and west London, making the Capital's population nationally significant.

You can help this species thrive. See Bexley Council's biodiversity action plan (BAP) for the species:

http://www.bexley.gov.uk/service/parks/biodiv-actplan-stagbeetle.html

31st May: This visitor is an Elephant Hawk Moth - and its mirror-image in a twin-wall polycarbonate roofing sheet. My 3MP mobile phone cam has focussed better on the reflection.