on a wide variety of species and varieties including V. olympicum, V. bombyciferum, V.
thapsus and elsewhere on V. nigrum. I was also quite surprised one year to find the
larvae on the orange Buddleia globosa.
One garden visitor 1 always like to see is the Hummingbird Hawkmoth. 1 have had two
or three in the garden this June always coming in to feed on the clumps of Red Valerian.
My first garden tick for a Hobby also came this year, one flew north over the church on
the 14th June and I had a wonderful but brief view of this little sickle-winged falcon.
The Giant Capricorn Cerambyx cerdo - a possible Essex introduction
M.W. Hanson 3 Church Cottages, Church Road, Boreham, Essex CM3 3EG
It was with some interest that I opened the newspaper and was astonished to see that the
giant European Capricorn longhorn beetle had once again been recorded in the U.K.
having thought to have been extinct for over a hundred years. The beetle was found
scuttling across the floor in a house in Stratford (unfortunately the one in Warwickshire
not east London). Having come from reclaimed timber installed in the house the article
did not state whether the timber was locally obtained or was sourced from somewhere in
Europe. Architectural reclamation yards in the UK do buy oak structural timber from
France and this would be a likely source for the beetle.
The beetle is western Europe's largest longhorn and is a spectacular beast up to 2.5
inches long with up to 4 inch antennae in the male. It is a saproxylic species, the eggs
generally being laid in over-mature oak trees and the larvae subsequently taking some
29 months to mature and produce the adult beetle. In Europe it is classed as vulnerable
on the IUCN Red List 2003. It is still widespread on the continent but vulnerable to
forestry practises and the removal of dead and dying wood. Foresters do not like the
beetle because of the huge tunnel borings the larvae make in the Oak which ultimately
make the tree commercially worthless. However the trees involved are often not killed
by the attentions of the beetle and usually go on living producing eventually Cerambyx
oaks which year after year produce the beetle. These oaks however have been destroyed
by foresters who do not want the beetle in their forests and this has led to concerns about
the possible eventual extinction of this species as a European breeding species. The
Capricorn beetle is still found in France, Italy and Germany where, in the latter country
it is protected by legislation. It was once an established member of the British insect
fauna, its remains have been found preserved in bog oak and it is known to have been
present in the U.K. some 3,700 years ago. E.A.J. Duffy includes the species in his 1952
Royal Entomological Society key to the Cerambycidae and does not seem to mention it
as being an extinct species (unfortunately virtually no information is included in this
publication about the beetle).
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 48, September 200S
17