Cockchafer.

Cockchafer ( Melolontha melolontha ).

A loud, almost angry buzzing sound signals the arrival of a cockchafer beetle in a lighted room in early summer. Once inside, it flies about clumsily, colliding with things in the room. The Cockchafer is commonly known as the may bug as it is most often found in may or early june.

The larvae of the cockchafer are the white grubs sometimes found when soil is ploughed or dug. They feed on plant roots and can be serious pests of farm and garden crops, especially cereals and soft fruit. Great damage can be caused after particulary good summers when the female cockchafers have laid large numbers of eggs. As the larvae need two or three years to mature, crops may suffer for two or three seasons after a good adult summer. The cockchafer is found over most of britain, but is rarely seen during the day because of its nocturnal habits.

The adult beetle emerges from its pupa in october but remains underground until spring, when it pushes its way to the surface and lives for a further three or four months.

Rooks, magpies and gulls regulary search fields for the larvae which are sometimes called '' rookworms '' or '' whitegrubs ''.

Clearly this one hasn't long woken up, it is on my nelly moser clematis in the morning sun, so as it eats mainly roots it may not be eating the actual flower. However they will eat the leaves of deciduous trees, so it may be eating the leaves on my wild cherry tree.