Where are the May bugs?

[Tortoisel]

It just occurs to me this eve sitting outside that I am yet to be attacked by a May bugs which is a customary annual tradition.

Not complaining because I bloody hate it, but also slightly concerning if they really have just disappeared!

Anyone seen the May bugs this year?

YABU - May bugs have been out here
YANBU - Your right! No May bugs

That is horrific. No thanks for sharing!

I hate the little buggers, so a year without May bugs is a good year indeed.

Many years ago I had one fly into the car in the Lake District, and that’s one experience I’m not eager to repeat. Luckily, the driver kept an amazingly cool head as the bastard thing buzzed and clattered and swooped around like an evil mini-helicopter for what seemed like hours before settling on the parcel shelf. If I’d been driving we’d have ended up in a ditch for sure!

I mentioned to my mother that I’d heard a weird whirring noise in the garden & she said it was probably a cockchafer. My 30 yr old son & I were snorting & giggling like big kids.

OK I have just found this delightful footnote on the wikipedia entry for Cockchafers.

Other names include: bracken clock, bummler, chovy, cob-worm, dorrs, dumbledarey, dumbledore, humbuz, June bug, kittywitch, billy witch, may-bittle, midsummer dor, mitchamador, oak-wib, rookworm, snartlegog, spang beetle, tom beedel and chwilen y bwm (Welsh)

This was the beast. The photo doesn't convey how bloody enormous it was.

They ALL sound like something J K Rowling has dreamt up.

The wikipedia article also ominously suggests that while they have a 3-year life cycle in most places including the UK, there is also a 30 year cycle where they all mysteriously overlap (how does this happen if they are all on a 3-year rotation? Who knows) and there will 10,000 of them, though this has no citation and no context, so I have no idea what it is even talking about. 10,000 in the country doesn't sound like too many. 10,000 in your bedroom would be a nightmare scenario.

I haven't seen a single maybug this year, nor heard any batting up against the windows, when usually I see a few. I have to admit it's a little strange!

I also almost never hear crickets anymore, when it used to be the sound of summer evenings.

Bitten 2 weeks ago in the non lymphoedema leg. It managed to bite though mild compression on good leg. I’ve always been wonderfully tasty to bugs and horseflies.

I’d walked through watery woodland area on Friday/Saturday by Sunday 17th I was trying all sorts to relief it. Whilst asking myself is this what landed me in a bad way last April, Had cellulitis three times in adulthood so you probably have to be that person.

Oh wow! Like plant breeding. Thats always fascinated me.

It’s something to do with prime numbers. So plants with a cycle longer than a year nearly always breed on prime numbers years which mean they are less likely to overlap consistently with a competitor.

It’s fascinating how they would know what the prime numbers are but even the plants with the once in a generation breeding cycle ie. 100 years+ still manage to pop out their babes on a prime year.

OMG!!!

Its clicked 🫣

That is why they aren’t here!!!!

They are aligning for a mega swarm!

I did the math and it’s basically if they are on a 3 year cycle. Occasionally if say once every 3-5 ‘breeds’ they do a 4 year cycle instead then at some point every 30-45 years then all the cycles align and you have a mega swarm ☠️

FUCKING HELL

They are gorgeous with the cutest antennae, they don't bite - I pick them up, but they make a hell of a racket if they get inside your lampshades at night. We've had none this year yet.

Lord help you if you encounter a stag horn beetle...

Oh I’d never hear of a May bug, ha! I just assumed the OP meant bugs in general

Ha, no sorry I didn’t know what a May bug was!

I've never seen one in our town, North Hampshire. My garden has masses of bees, butterflies, a hedgehog and occasional hummingbird moth. Never seen a may bug though, I'll say hello to one if it passes through.

Ha ha, yes, we had an incident with one today. My five year old son found one dead in the garden today and scooped it up on a little red spade. He took it in the house to "show" my 15 year old daughter and her friend, who were both "busy" on their iPads.
He shoved the spade under her nose and the screams were pretty startling, to be honest.
Of course, I had to go and retrieve it, which was unpleasant, but it did make me laugh a bit.

You're right! No Maybugs, at least not yet. It seems they can emerge as late as July https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/insects-invertebrates/facts-about-cockchafer

They're not cockroaches though, they're beetles, and they don't bite, although they can munch their way through crops and they're frigging alarming to see in flight! https://southwickcountrypark.com/2020/05/11/cockchafer/

There aren't as many butterflies anymore. Pesticides i reckon. Very sad.

We always had them where I grew up in Worcestershire but I've never seen one where I now live in South Wales.
They're sticky too just to add to people's horror so it's fun if they get in your hair.

They're getting rare so please don't harm them out of fear.

I've seen 2 this past week...flying tank or bullet is such a good description 🤣.

I don't like their haphazard flying and them flying at you...but I do love capturing them in an upside down glass to pop them back outside....they use their antennae to detect female cockchafers (the male's are usually bigger) but I always think it looks like they're waving at you 🥺