Stag beetlethe 2011 survey

Staggering Gains

Report of the 2011 survey of stag beetlein Greater London

London Wildlife Trust

The London Wildlife Trust is part of a network of 47 local Wildlife Trusts across the UK, working under the umbrella of The Wildlife Trusts Partnership, the UK’s leading conservation charity dedicated to wildlife protection.

Registered Office: Skyline House, 200 Union Street, London, SE1 0LXA company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales, Number 1600379

Registered as a charity in England and Wales, Number 283895

Protecting London’s wildlife for the future

Text: Tony Wileman, Mathew FrithDesign: Metalanguage Design

IntroductionThe stag beetle is one of London’s special animals; for reasons still not entirely clear it’s a species that has a significant part of its national population located within the capital. Despite the development of the city since the 1850s, and the loss and appropriation of much its natural habitat, the stag beetle still survives in London’s parks, gardens and wilder spaces. It’s also an insect which seems to excite, inspire, and occasionally trigger shudders of the ‘ugh!’ factor; it has resonance with people in a way that most beetles don’t. And as a detritovore, it serves as a flagship for the conservation of a wide range of largely invisible, elusive and unattractive species that are critically important for the healthy function of our ecosystems.

London Wildlife Trust carried out another survey of stag beetle over 2011, to raise public awareness and further our understanding of its distribution, its habitats, and to gain a better insight into what people feel about it. Significant efforts have taken place over the course of the last 15 years to promote the needs of stag beetle, and many interventions have taken place in parks and gardens to provide them with habitat. Nevertheless, threats from trampling, predation and habitat loss are still strong. This survey attempted to find out a little bit more as to whether predation of the adult beetles could be a significant factor affecting their future survival in London.

Key messages• The strongly southern and western distribution of stag beetle across London is confirmed by 2011 records;• Two records of stag beetle were located (in Enfield) some distance away from the nearest clusters of distribution recorded to date; these may not be significant, but are worth exploring; • Six records within a broad strip of central London were recorded, these may not be significant but also worth exploring;• The low number of records – compared to some earlier surveys - may reflect a poor year for stag beetle generally, and/or the methodology of the survey;• Gardens are where most people recorded stag beetle, probably a reflection of where most people spend time (and therefore likely to record wildlife);• The trend of declining garden vegetation across London could critically adversely impact on London’s stag beetle population;• Cat, dog, fox and corvids feature strongly as predatory species recorded within the immediate vicinity of stag beetle records.

There are particularly string clusters of records from around Putney and Gunnersbury/Chiswick, Herne Hill, and Sydenham Hill. The latter three may reflect activities from Trust reserves near to these localities (see figure 1, page 7). The survey confirmed what we already know of stag beetle distribution across London, that has been carried out by the Trust and a number of other

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organisations. The Trust will continue to promote stag beetle conservation, and to raise awareness of the species’ needs through public surveys.

Conservation statusThe stag beetle, Lucanus cervus is a species protected in Europe under Annex II of the Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitat and of wild fauna and flora, more commonly known as the Habitats and Species Directive 19921. The protection is afforded because it has become extinct in parts of Europe. The United Kingdom is thought to support the majority of the European population although in the UK it only receives protection from sale and trade under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended). The UK population is concentrated in the south east with the greatest abundance in Hampshire, Suffolk, Essex and Greater London with smaller populations in the counties between these. Although relatively common in some areas of these counties, it is listed a Nationally Scarce Category B (Hyman & parsons, 1992), which means that it occurs in less than 100 of the over 4000 10x10km national grid squares that covers the UK landmass.

Greater London is a particular hotspot for the stag beetle. People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) is the lead partner in its protection through the national Species Action Plan. However, London Wildlife Trust (hereafter referred to as the Trust or LWT) has been a significant partner since the mid 1990s in helping to protect and raise the awareness of this nationally scarce and iconic species. In doing so LWT and PTES have previously undertaken a number of surveys in Greater London to understand the distribution of the species, the habitats it prefers and gain a better understanding of how the population is fairing (decreasing, stable or increasing).

Previous surveysIn 1997 the Bromley Wildlife Partnership which included LWT, carried out a public survey in the Borough; the Trust complemented this across a number of south London boroughs. The following year PTES undertook a national stag beetle survey on behalf of a range of partners, as a key first step in the newly developed national Species Action Plan. These surveys generated a total of 2936 records for Greater London which amounted to a total of 32% of all the national records received. These records highlighted that the boroughs south of the River Thames probably held larger populations than those in the north, with particular high counts from Sutton, Croydon, Bromley, Richmond upon Thames, and Kingston upon Thames. This was to be expected, due to the presence of earlier survey data, although previous records since the 1960s had also shown this bias. In 1999 the Trust attempted to fill in the gaps by surveying north London to see if the apparent south London bias was not simply a reflection of recorder effort. Although clusters of records were found in the boroughs of Hillingdon, Enfield, Waltham Forest, Redbridge and Havering, it was concluded that the stag beetle had a distribution with a strong emphasis in south London.

PTES repeated their national survey in 2002 but only found 817 records for Greater London. This was considered to be due to a slower uptake of press coverage and difficulties in contacting previous recorders rather than an indication of any decline in the population. It may also have been a ‘poor year’ for stag beetles; their emergence and activity appears to be influenced by the weather, and undoubtedly, like many invertebrates, their numbers will fluctuate across a number of years.In June 2005 the Trust launched a public ‘Stag Beetle Hunt’ survey funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund which generated total of 835 stag beetle records with 222 of the records coming

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1 Three species of stag beetle are found in Britain; L. cervus is the only one afforded a level of protection.

from Bromley. Other boroughs with significant records were Croydon (96), Lewisham (92), Richmond (50) Wandsworth and Lambeth (39), Sutton (30) and Greenwich (27), all of which lie in south London. Ealing, Hillingdon and Havering were those boroughs north of the Thames with the most records (26, 25, and 23 respectively).

The 2011 surveyTo continue to raise awareness of stag beetle conservation and obtain further information on the distribution of them in London, the Trust launched a new survey in March 2011, ‘Staggering Gains’, funded by the BBC Wildlife Fund. During March and April 2011 a series of online documents were set up before the launch of the survey. These were:

• A campaign portal on the London Wildlife Trust website which provided information about stag beetles, why the survey was being undertaken and how people could take part.

• The online survey, developed in conjunction with Greenspace Information for Greater London (GiGL), London’s Environmental Records Centre. This online survey provided information on how to recognise stag beetle and asked for information about the location of the sighting, the habitat type, the date and time, the presence of predators, and the number of stag beetles recorded and what they were doing. Additional information on asking whether people had previously taken part in stag beetle surveys and whether they garden with stag beetles in mind was also sought.

• Two versions of an advice note were created. One new version was aimed at the general public on how to garden for stag beetles giving details of constructing stag beetle loggeries. Another updated version was aimed at land owners and managers giving more information about conservation status of the species, planning guidance etc. Both versions were made available through the campaign portal with the general public version being sent to those individuals that had recorded sightings.

Publicity and other workThe ‘Staggering Gains’ survey was launched as an event at the Trust’s Crane Park Island Nature Reserve in Whitton in May 2011. A press release was picked up by BBC online news, The Wildlife Trusts collective website, referenced in Richard Jones’ blog on the Gardeners’ World magazine website, on numerous other websites including catmagazines.co.uk. It also featured in the Evening Standard Magazine, the Shooting Times, Country magazine, and the East London Advertiser to name a few. We also publicised the campaign at all our staffed sites through distribution of a campaign flyer.

Throughout the campaign period the Trust received a number of enquiries from the press and members of the public. One example was an enquiry from a boy aged 5 who had created his own stag beetle website and wanted to link in with our campaign. Furthermore through our regular public events we raised awareness of stag beetle conservation and encouraged Londoners to make interventions in order to improve their local habitats. These events were particularly focused on inner London boroughs to help disseminate best practice interventions from the suburbs into the heart of the city.

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Besides publicity work the Trust also delivered a particularly significant amount of habitat creation and public engagement. In conjunction with the campaign, the Trust led on a stag beetle loggery creation project across the borough of Hackney in order to help meet targets within the Hackney Biodiversity Partnership’s Parks and Greenspaces Habitat Action Plan. Over the summer 102 loggeries were constructed by corporate volunteers and local volunteers in parks across the borough. Awareness was also raised amongst all London Wildlife Trust staff when they took part in the creation of stag beetle loggeries at Hackney Marshes as part of a training day.

Similar stag beetle loggery creation events at housing estates across in inner London in conjunction with our lottery funded Natural Estates project were also undertaken. These include Cleverly Estate (Shepherd’s Bush) and Ferry Lane Estate (Tottenham). We also built four loggeries at Memorial Park in West Ham as part of a demonstration to the London Parks & Green Spaces Forum.

A partnership project was also developed with WOOP studios who were inspired by the campaign and they produced a limited edition print focused on stag beetles as part of their series on collective nouns of animals.

Public response to surveyAs in previous surveys the ‘Staggering Gains’ campaign survey captivated people to provide us with a range of responses to their sightings that include fascination, amazement, sadness and distrust. Here are some examples of the comments received in response to what they noticed their individual stag beetle doing:

“following me round the garden it seemed, then crawled onto my foot, i am so pale it might have thought i was a flower?”

“Must have flown in through open window as was sitting on my sofa” “One was on its back on the patio. On taking it down the garden I saw another climbing over a fallen oak branch. I saw a female and one dead male last week in the garden. We have lived here for 34 years and are fortunate to have them every year.”

“trying to fight off the cat! and succeeding! :) we took it outside back into the garden.”

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London Wildlife Trust at Clapton Square - more loggeries for stag beetle

“It was flying along then crashed into a dark car, fell on its back into the gutter and lay there struggling. With a tiny twig, I helped it back onto its front and it crawled along the pavement quite happily for a few minutes then flew off”

“DEAD, SADLY!”

“I think it was searching for a mate in my garden.”

“Rearing up. Through no fault of mine!”

Survey resultsThe 2011 ‘Staggering Gains’ Survey generated a total of 307 stag beetle records from across Greater London (See fig 1). The submitted online survey data was entered into Recorder 6(a digital database system for keeping biological records) which allowed the data to be standardised into an accessible format. With this data the Greenspace Information for Greater London (GiGL) team produced series of maps using MapInfo 10.

Figure 1. Location of submitted stag beetle sightings across Greater London during the Staggering Gains Survey (map produced by Greenspace Information for Greater London 2012)

DistributionFrom Figure 2 it can be seen that the distribution of submitted records are comparable to the known distribution of stag beetles as held within the GiGL database up to the start of the ‘Staggering Gains’ Survey; the majority of records coming from areas that the species is regularly recorded. Figures 3 and 4 show the London Borough distribution of the records obtained from the 2005 survey results and the 2011 survey results respectively and these also are somewhat comparable with the majority of sightings recorded from south of the River Thames along a corridor from Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames eastwards through Lambeth and Southwark to Bromley.

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Figure 2. Location of submitted Stag Beetle sightings across Greater London during the Staggering Gains Survey compared to existing records in the GiGL database (map produced by Greenspace Information for Greater London 2012)

Figure 3. Distribution by borough of stag beetle sightings across Greater London during the 2005 Stag Beetle Survey (map produced by Greenspace Information for Greater London 2005)

DISCLAIMER: Please note that whilst some stag beetle recordsare based on 6 figure grid references, most are generated from centroid of postcode.Also note that multiple stag beetles were found at some locations.Produced by Greenspace Information For Greater LondonBased upon the Ordnance Survey 1: 10 000 map with the permission of The Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. © Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Licence No. AL100020841

Records

n 92 to 222n 39 to 92n 23 to 39n 18 to 23n 5 to 18n 1 to 5n 0

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Figure 4. Distribution by borough of stag beetle sightings across Greater London during the 2011 Staggering Gains survey (map produced by Greenspace Information for Greater London 2005)

Figure 5. Number of stag beetles recorded in each borough in the 2011 survey

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Number of stag beetle recordsin borough

n 12 to 44 (9)n 9 to 12 (3)n 5 to 9 (6)n 2 to 5 (3)n 1 to 2 (8)

50

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Barnet

Bexley

Brent

Bromley

Camden

Croydon

Ealing

Enfield

Greenw

ich

Hackn

ey

Hammers

mith & Fulh

am

Haring

ey

Hillingdon

Hounslo

w

Isling

ton

Kingsto

n upon T

hames

Lambeth

Lewish

amMert

on

Newha

m

Redbrid

ge

Richmond

upon T

hames

Southwark

Sutton

Tower

Hamlet

s

Walt

ham Fores

t

Wan

dsworth

Ouside o

f Lond

on

Num

ber

of s

tag

beet

le r

epor

ts

Harrow

Haveri

ng

1 2 1

89

20

26

8

12

1

7

1 1

108

44

1

5

12

30

10

12

25

17

8

12

34

7

Table 1. Comparison of 2005 and 2011 sightings borough breakdown (ordered by sightings)

Bromley

Croydon

Lewisham

Richmond upon Thames

Lambeth

Wandsworth

Sutton

Greenwich

Ealing

Hounslow

Hillingdon

Southwark

Havering

Kingston upon Thames

Bexley

Waltham Forest

Enfield

Merton

Barnet

Hackney

Redbridge

Harrow

Brent

Hammersmith & Fulham

Barking & Dagenham

Haringey

Westminster

Camden

City of London

Islington

Kensington & Chelsea

Newham

Tower Hamlets

TOTAL

222

96

92

50

39

39

30

27

26

26

25

24

23

19

18

18

9

8

7

7

7

6

5

5

1

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

831

26.71

11.55

11.08

6.02

4.69

4.69

3.61

3.25

3.13

3.13

3.01

2.89

2.77

2.29

2.17

2.17

1.08

0.96

0.84

0.84

0.84

0.72

0.60

0.60

0.12

0.12

0.12

0

0

0

0

0

0

Borough Number of records

% of records

Hounslow

Wandsworth

Lewisham

Ealing

Richmond upon Thames

Bromley

Southwark

Greenwich

Lambeth

Havering

Merton

Bexley

Croydon

Enfield

Hillingdon

Sutton

Hammersmith & Fulham

Kingston upon Thames

Brent

Redbridge

Waltham Forest

Barnet

Camden

Hackney

Haringey

Harrow

Islington

Newham

Tower Hamlets

Barking & Dagenham

City of London

Kensington & Chelsea

Westminster

TOTAL

44

34

30

26

25

20

17

12

12

10

10

9

8

8

8

8

7

5

2

2

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

0

0

0

0

307

14.33

11.07

9.77

8.47

8.14

6.51

5.54

3.91

3.91

3.26

3.26

2.93

2.61

2.61

2.61

2.61

2.28

1.63

0.65

0.65

0.65

0.33

0.33

0.33

0.33

0.33

0.33

0.33

0.33

0

0

0

0

Borough Number of records

% of records

2005 sightings 2011 sightings

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Habitat usageInformation on the habitats that the stag beetles were recorded in so it would be possible to get a better understanding of which habitats in London were most important for supporting the stag beetle populations. Table 2 below shows the primary habitat that each of the stag beetle sightings were recorded from and figure 6 expresses this in terms of a pie chart. Nevertheless, we need to be mindful of the likelihood of where recorders were likely to spend more time, and therefore more likely to see stag beetles. So whilst gardens appear from this survey to be the stronghold, we cannot rule out the importance of natural habitats in London where stag beetle populations survive out of sight of many people, such as woodlands.

Table 2. Primary habitat of record location

Figure 6. Pie chart indicating the habitat distribution of the 2011 sightings.

n Open countryside, fields

n Woodland

n Park or public garden

n Streets and pavements

n Suburban housing garden

n Other habitat

n Not reported

Habitat

Open countryside, fields

Woodland

Park or public garden

Streets and pavements

Suburban housing garden

Other habitat

Not reported

Count (London only records)

1

7

25

76

160

36

2

307

Count (Incl outside London records)

1

7

25

77

166

36

2

314

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Survey evaluationTable 1 and Figure 5 shows the breakdown of the 2005 and 2011 sightings by London borough and includes the percentage amount of each boroughs sightings for each survey. From these records it can be seen that a lower number of records were recorded in the 2011 survey than those in the 2005 survey.

The reasons for this are expected to be due to changes in the survey methodology rather than a recorded loss in numbers of stag beetles. We also need to consider that the market of public surveys is now crowded, and the information overload that people are subject to; it’s now harder to make such surveys distinctive to attract attention. It may also reflect the capacity of the Trust to generate interest at a particularly busy time of year. However, as with the PTES survey of 2002, it may be indicative of a poor year for stag beetles generally – fewer may have been about to be recorded.

However, considering that the number of recorders and their effort for each individual borough was roughly the same for both surveys, the percentage values for each borough indicate that there may be an increase in stag beetles in the London Borough of Hounslow from 2005 (3.13% of records) to 2011 (14.33%) and Wandsworth (4.69% in 2005 and 11.07% in 2011) while populations in Bromley (26.71% in 2005 and 6.51% in 2011) and Croydon (11.55% in 2005 and 2.61% in 2011) may have declined. All the other borough records vary so little to not be deemed significant.

These trends are, however, very speculative and cannot be considered to be scientifically sound as there are many variables that may influence the results from both two surveys.

However, they do indicate that these individual boroughs may require closer scrutiny and further stag beetle surveys to see if the large variations are down to changes in recording effort or are indeed reflections of increases/decreases in stag beetle populations. Given the natural fluctuations of invertebrate populations and the chances of encountering a stag beetle over the course of the adults’ period of activity, we need to recognise that specific assessment of population trends are fraught with difficulty. Any such assessments from the numbers recorded have to be speculative.

From the habitat usage records (table 2 and figure 6) it can be seen that around half of the 2011 sightings were recorded from suburban gardens with a significant amount also recorded from streets and pavements while few sightings were recorded from woodland, the natural habitat for stag beetles. This is undoubtedly due largely to the likelihood of the recorders coming across stag beetles in areas that they spend most of their time rather than an accurate breakdown of their habitat preferences. Nevertheless, the sheer number of sightings from suburban gardens suggests that this habitat is particularly valuable in Greater London for stag beetles and probably supports a significant proportion of the stag beetle population in London. This is likely because of the habitats and features found in many gardens are analogous to woodland edges, and can often contain a high proportion of dead wood (either natural, or in untreated wooden fence posts).

Overall two key points emerge from the 2011 survey:

• The number of records received is low compared to earlier surveys.

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• The records received confirm the existing distribution; they do not appear as a random spread across London. A number of records appear outside the main clusters, but overall the pattern fits remarkably close to the distribution of records gathered from a number of specific surveys over the past 15 years.

PredatorsStag beetle are known to be predated upon by a wide range of animals – domestic cat and dog, fox, badger, hedgehog, frogs and toads, and a number of birds including corvids (carrion crow, magpie, jay), kestrel, blackbird, woodpeckers, and owls. In London, especially suburban gardens, domestic dog and cat, as well as fox, magpie and carrion crow, are supported by the high levels of food provided directly and indirectly by people. This enables them to survive in proportionately higher numbers (then they would naturally), exerting significant predation pressure on stag beetle (as well as a range of other species). Our survey asked people to let us know – through prompts - which predators they recorded (or knew to be near) where they had sighted a stag beetle. Of these domestic cat was clearly the highest number noted, probably a reflection of the high number of records from private gardens, followed by dog, carrion crow and then magpie2. Dog record numbers are also a likely reflection of garden records, but their behaviour (and management by their owners) makes them less likely to be a significant significant predatory pressure than either cats or corvid birds. Additional records for fox were also significant. Other species recorded included badger, toad, and blackbird. The data collected does not enable us to further understand the local pressures of predation, but clearly the widespread presence of stag beetle predators – given that most submissions to the survey indicated their presence – is of concern.

Figure 7. Ratio of predatory species recorded during the Staggering Gains Survey. Predators in the vicinity were reported from 254 stag beetle sightings, none from 72 sightings.

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2 This may have been influenced by the format of the survey, which listed the predatory species in a particular order.

n Magpie 28%

n Cat 30%

n Crow 19%

n Dog 14%

n Other (including fox) 9%

Project outcomesStaggering Gains has reinforced our understanding of the distribution of stag beetle in London. It has helped to engage hundreds of people from different backgrounds throughout the capital to learn about stag beetles, their ecology and why they are important for London and our environment in general and reached many thousands more via publicity. It has also helped to dispel some of the myths about them and encouraged people to manage their gardens and other greenspaces in a way that is not just beneficial to stag beetles but to other saproxlyic wildlife too.

The project has furthered our understanding of the distribution of stag beetles both geographically including the addition of new locations and distributionally by habitat and has given us some insights (albeit speculatively) into how the population may be faring in comparison to previous surveys.

The survey data from this survey can now be used to inform the 2012 survey and target future stag beetle conservation work particularly on obvious population ‘hotspots’ and in areas and in areas where stag beetle seems to be absent. The data can also be used to encourage local survey work on those boroughs indicating potential increases/decreases in their respective local stag beetle population sizes to help monitor their populations.

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ReferencesFoley, K., 2002. An investigation into the distribution of the stag beetle in London, unpublished dissertation.

Frith, M., 1999. A survey of the stag beetle Lucanus cervus in south London during 1997, The London Naturalist No 78, 1999, London Natural History Society.

Frith, M., 1999. Stag beetle; an advice note for its conservation in London, London Wildlife Trust.

Harvey, D. J., 2007. Aspects of the biology and ecology of the stag beetle (Lucanus cervus (L.)). Unpublished PhD thesis, University of London.

Harvey, D. J. & Gange, A. C. , 2003. The private life of the stag beetle. The Bulletin of the Amateur Entomologists’ Society, 62, pp240–244.

Harvey, D. J., Gange, A. C., Hawes, C. J., and Rink, M., 2011. Bionomics and distribution of the stag beetle, Lucanus cervus (L.) across Europe, Insect Conservation and Diversity, 4, 1, pp23–38, February 2011, Wiley.

London Wildlife Trust, 2005, London Stag Beetle Hunt, leaflet, London Wildlife Trust.

Margot, M, 2005. London 2005 Stag Beetle Hunt; Report for Greater Stag Beetle (Lucanus cervus) in Greater London, London Wildlife Trust.

Percy, C., Bassford G., and Keeble, V., 2001. Stag Beetle Report; findings of the 1998 National Stag Beetle Survey, People’s Trust for Endangered Species.

PTES, 2002. Fact file; Stag beetles, People’s Trust for Endangered Species.

Smith, M., 2002. National Stag Beetle Survey 2002, People’s Trust for Endangered Species.

AcknowledgementsText: Tony Wileman and Mathew FrithImages: Penny Frith, Mathew Frith, David Mooney, London Wildlife Trust and WOOP Studios Design: Metalanguage Design

Thanks to all the following for their contribution to the survey and report; all the recorders who submitted data; BBC Wildlife Fund; Leanne Brisland, Catherine Harris, Karolina Leszczynska-Gogol, David Mooney, Alex Robb, Helen Swainger, Helen Wallis (London Wildlife Trust); Chloe Smith (GiGL); Kate Mitchell (LB Hackney); Homes for Haringey, Peabody, Peoples Trust for Endangered Species, and WOOP Studios.