Found this on the lawn - would AIBU to move away, very far away! Picture of bug attached for anyone who isn’t a fan!

[Kattekit]

Was out in the garden with ddogs, just popping the washing line up and look down and saw the below. I’m not going to lie I was scared, no idea what is it. It’s about 4cms long and around the same across.

Any ideas that make staying in my home a possibility or do I just need to move away, very very far away. I’m in the North of England if that helps. I’m thinking maybe the outer Hebrides are my only option?

My DM used to stamp on bugs, and my DMIL used to scream at them, making me quite anxious.

I made a decision when I had my first DC, that I was going to make sure that I didn’t pass on hatred or fear towards them to my DC, so we gave them cute names. “Oh look, there’s a Charlie beetle, he’s a stag beetle”, “ don’t worry about that spider - he’s called Benny, he’s a garden spider” Etc. None of my DC hate or are scared of bugs now, and neither am I worried about them any more - so it does work!

Sat outside in a friend's garden once and one torpedoed straight into my DPs hair and got well tangled. I screamed and ran inside and locked her out until she'd dealt with it.

Maybug. Leave it alone. They are completely harmless.

They actually have a fascinating lifecycle. They spend years under the soil, then grown wings and dig to the surface. They will then try to mate before they die in about a month's time.

It’s the European chafer that ruins your grass not these - when they hatch they’re horrendous, hundreds flying into you and on the washing. We have them, bloody hate them.

If you're in the UK, I would stay put. Other places have bugs that do harm them. Here, you're mostly fine.

I don't like ticks, or anything that sucks blood, but I'm not going to have some hysterical fit about it. And yes, I use the word hysterical advisedly.

Yes! Let it go, or if you're one of the MN mob that hates all wildlife except pretty things and you absolutely must kill it, do it quickly. Don't just leave it in a jar to die slowly.
I don't find all this EEK I'M TERRIFIED and KILL IT WITH FIRE nonsense we see on MN the tiniest bit funny. It's pathetic.

No it’s these, they’ve ruined our lawn every year as they eat the root of the grass. We’ve had them for years and we definitely don’t get swarms.

https://www.lovethegarden.com/uk-en/article/chafer-grubs#:~:text=Chafer%20grubs%20live%20underground%20in,garden%20chafer%20and%20Welsh%20chafer.

my brother had stag beetles in their garden, they were amazing and enormous.

So sad that they are rare now

It’s a gentle giant, leave it be.

I suppose all of us saying that cockchafers are harmless probably don't know just how painful it is to have your cock chafed.

The only thing I have against them is that one of them flew right at me once and bumped into me with a horrible feeling of largeness. <shudder>

I love Maybugs. I remember one flew onto my coat once and settled there, it looked like I was wearing a wooden brooch. Don't see many around here anymore ( North West)

I find the photo of the grubs more horrible than the ones of the May Bugs themselves. There are June Bugs too, had one of those in my house last year. I love finding any of these especially Stag Beetles. The lovely warm balmy evenings were always known as the night of the Staggers when I lived at home. We had loads in the garden, had to make sure all windows were shut or could find a companion waiting for you when you went to bed

Stag beetles are rare countywide, but locally can be common. One year we had 10+ in the garden. When the males wrestle it is quite something and they make a lot of noise. When they fly they sound like B-52s. 🪲

The May bugs are mad this year, they have left lots of little holes drilled in the lawn from when they dig themselves out. The cats are completely fascinated, but I've noticed they don't actually try and catch them like they do butterflies - I wonder if they have had a few sticky encounters.

MynameisJune I do apologise. I have fallen down a rabbit hole of Googling chafer beetles 😆 and didn’t realise there were so many types! Ours are less than 1cm in length but there are hundreds over a week or so when they hatch. I have been at war with them for the last 5 years!

Known as ‘Chinooks’ in my family!

Thanks so much for all your replies. This one was already deceased, so I popped it in a pot to find out what it is. It was just something I’d never seen before.

As we live rather rurally we do get all types of bugs and critters, I’m ok as long as I know what they are.

As for DDogs yes they should be doing a much better job but I’d never knowingly let them harm anything in our garden. Even our poor DCats have bells attached to pre warn the birds.

As I said thanks again, will continue to use my garden without fear for now

Oh it’s quite sweet !!

Not like the woodlouse spiders we have an infestation of in our garden …… they are huge fat things and they BITE

It was already dead or there’s no way I would have trapped it and left it. I love most animals, even those I don’t I certainly respect and wouldn’t ever intentionally harm.

We had a huge one in our bedroom suburban London), we closed the door for hours and left the window open to get it to leave, thinking it was a bit! It wouldn’t leave!

Bat, not bit!

I don't find all this EEK I'M TERRIFIED and KILL IT WITH FIRE nonsense we see on MN the tiniest bit funny. It's pathetic.

Likewise. It's irritating and feeds into some unfortunate stereotypes.

I agree, they even sell Greggs now!!

Good to hear and I apologise!

You cannot be scared of a June bug, seriously, they are THE most stupid creatures in the world!

I find them lovely. I don't want in my house or hair, but they can have some space on the lawn, deffo.