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Surrey Heath Stag Beetles

The Borough of Surrey Heath is one of the hot spots in Britain for the rare Stag Beetle. In a survey carried out by the People's trust for Endangered Species, the Southeast of Britain showed up as an important region for this fantastic insect.

The beetle requires dead wood in its life cycle. The eggs are laid in the soft dead wood and the young hatch out and feet on it. Dead wood is in short supply around the Borough as dead trees are trimmed or removed for safety reasons. The Parks and Countryside Service retains dead wood on nearly all of the sites it owns and manages, this caters for lots of wood boring mini-beasts including the Stag Beetle. Male Stag Beetles have large antlers, the females do not.