Is it really all that good?
For several years now, the first reports of active, even flying stag beetle males have been coming from Franconia as early as 20 April. Usually very large, proud beetles that want to conquer the world. This year, these reports seem to be coming from all directions, including Trier. In between these reports, there are repeated cold snaps and suddenly the first dead males appear, without any injuries, simply dead. Of course, climate change is also affecting the stag beetles developing deeper in the earth. You think you might be missing something down there. The females of the stag beetles usually stay even deeper in the ground and are not as willing to take risks as the males. They prefer to wait and are at least a week later than the males anyway.
So there is still the hype around the end of May/June, when the females are very tempting to invite you to their wedding. However, most early starters’ batteries are likely to be pretty flat by then, if they haven’t already died because of a late frost. We’ll keep an eye on things and stay tuned, but the cards will be reshuffled, hopefully not too quickly for the stag beetle (and us).