Are stag beetles thriving in our area? After writing about this magnificent insect in the paper dated July 4, Frances Hagger contacted me with her sighting of one in Woking.

“It was while walking with my father Joseph Hagger along the footpath beside the Hoe Stream.”

Frances believes it was a female: while males can grow up to 75mm in length, females are smaller, between 30-50mm, and have shorter mandibles (the insect’s antler-like jaws).

Frances added: “I didn’t take a photo, we just moved her off the path, so she wouldn’t get trodden on.”

Stag beetle populations have been declining across much of Europe. In the UK, they are rarely seen outside southern England. If you spot one, please tell me by email ([email protected]), especially if you have a photo or can describe where and when it was seen.

Importantly, please also report each sighting – wherever it was – to the wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), which is conducting a national Great Stag Hunt survey. For full details, visit stagbeetles.ptes.org. These reports help scientists understand how stag beetles are faring and where they may be clinging on.

Meanwhile, Surrey Wildlife Trust (SWT) is hoping to introduce local people of all ages and backgrounds to the wonders of wildlife this summer.

SWT’s Community Programme Manager, Claire Harris, said: “Learning about nature is both fun and free. Unless more people learn to see, appreciate and protect the riches on their doorstep, we risk losing our natural heritage.”

SWT is encouraging everyone to look out for and record five key species that represent the range of Surrey’s wildlife: a mammal, a bird, a reptile, a plant and an insect. These are:

Bats – nocturnal mammals that often go unnoticed. Surrey hosts 15 of the UK’s 18 species. Bat numbers have fallen due to the loss of mature trees, which they depend on to roost and raise young.

Swifts – these migratory birds are a familiar sight in summer, swooping and screaming through the skies. But their numbers have declined, partly due to a loss of nesting places in modern buildings.

Peacock butterfly – a striking bright-red butterfly with large blue “eye” spots. Once common, it is now less frequently seen due to habitat loss and fewer wild areas for feeding and breeding.

Oxeye daisy – a large white-and-yellow wildflower that provides essential pollen for many insects. It thrives in areas left unmown such as roadside verges, parks, and meadows.

Slow-worm – not a worm, but the UK’s only legless lizard. It’s completely harmless and loves to hide in compost heaps and log piles, where it feeds on garden pests. But without wild or “messy” corners, it can’t survive.

All species records are fed into the Surrey Biodiversity Information Centre (SBIC), helping conservationists monitor changes in distribution and abundance and devise strategies for their protection.

To make recording easier, SWT has created a free app called Five2Find, which can be downloaded to any smartphone. Alternatively, sightings can be emailed to [email protected]

To take part, visit the SWT project page at: https://tinyurl.com/46zad5nz

Claire added: “We hope this project will open doors of discovery for Surrey residents. It will also help us build a more complete picture of where wildlife lives and how we can all help protect it.”