Can anyone identify this beetle (big) in my garden?

[Snooks1971]

He’s about an inch long, seems a bit unwieldy and not very agile.

May bug?

Cockchafer

Which might also be known as a cockshafer

That’s Jeremy.

He likes Earl Grey tea and French movies.

Say hi from me.

(May Bug. They’re really cute. And sometimes massive.)

Lucky lucky garden, it is a cockchafer, may bug, Maikäfer. Really special, cute faces, almost endangered, and having a hard time surviving. It will lay its larvae in pots, and in the soil, they need five years (dont know exactly, maybe less), to mature, please take care of these. They wont hurt your plant, i promise.
perhaps you have already found weird grub in your pots. No dig gardening, or perennial gardening a la Piet Oudolf will help them.

We have loads of them is Surrey- they freak me out because they're so big. But they're only around for one month and I'm trying to learn to love them

Cockchafer? Wow that’s an unfortunate name. Thank you everyone. I’m just going to check on him now. Him/her?? He’s amazing but looks like he’s struggling a bit.

Hello Jeremy 😍

We have them in our garden, I love them, my Dh not so much as they bump into the French windows when it’s dark making a lot of noise and he had one land In his hair one night - scaredy-cat

I'm sorry, cockchafer!? It looks like a lovely fuzzy beetle, my dds would love to spot one of those.

I can’t find Jeremy now. I moved him because a couple of ants were crawling on him and it seemed a bit parasitic, if that’s the right word, I felt sorry for him. Check out his furry neck! Didn’t see that even with me varifocals.

I have been trying to spot
one for years, must go to surrey then. They used to be so common there were traditions and songs about them, not very nice ones, but they are really not doing so well.
they dont eat your plants, they dont bite, an old name is dumbledore (although also heard this for bumblebees) so i suppose any unwieldy, bumbly, buzzing creature was given the name.

I’m in Leicestershire, have never seen one before ever.

chafer comes
from the saxon/german kaefer, meaning beetle. But wiki has a different explanation.

used to be a common pest but now severely decimated by pesticide use.

Just found him again. Looking around the plants n weeds, then saw a brown leaf move. He is a thing of beauty…a perfectly formed creature.

There's a lot in Norfolk, and here they're called blind bees (no idea why, they're not blind or bees!).

@AppleButter we are very laissez faire with our garden and I hope he/her/it flourishes. 🙏🏼

He’s still perambulating around slowly but keeps falling over sideways. Hmm feel bad for him.

May bug - they throw themselves against windows so Jeremy is probably concussed😆

😂

Are they in decline now? That's sad.

Where I used to live about 15 yrs ago (SW) we had a pub with a porch light on in an open porch and then we'd shut the door late at night.

They were obviously attracted by the light but then trapped in the porch till morning. I had a special soft broom for carefully sweeping them outside again because there were always so many!

There were loads of them at a holiday cottage we had a few years ago. Must have been the May bank holiday/ half term I suppose. Haven’t seen them anywhere else. They congregated on the garden furniture.

They're called Billy Wickets in Suffolk. They are lovely and bumbly, but I hate it if one bumbles at you and gets tangled in your hair!

an old name is dumbledore (although also heard this for bumblebees) so i suppose any unwieldy, bumbly, buzzing creature was given the name. Also used for a species of dung beetle with blue iridescence

Piggybacking on this - hope you don't mind OP - with a beetle amongst my cucumbers.....

Im in Germany if it helps identification!