| Cockchafers... 21:56 - May 19 with 2739 views | Binner |
...aka may bugs.
1) What do you call them?
2) Have you seen many this year?
I've always called them billywitches. Maybe that is a Suffolk thing.
Usually there are loads around in May but I haven't seen any at all this year (in IP4). |  |
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| Cockchafers... on 22:00 - May 19 with 2705 views | WeWereZombies |
Do you mean mayflies? Saw quite a few yesterday on a walk by the River Lea in Hertfordshire. |  |
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| Cockchafers... on 22:03 - May 19 with 2700 views | factual_blue |
| Cockchafers... on 22:00 - May 19 by WeWereZombies |
Do you mean mayflies? Saw quite a few yesterday on a walk by the River Lea in Hertfordshire. |
Different beasties
Mayfly
Maybug
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| Cockchafers... on 22:04 - May 19 with 2695 views | Binner |
| Cockchafers... on 22:00 - May 19 by WeWereZombies |
Do you mean mayflies? Saw quite a few yesterday on a walk by the River Lea in Hertfordshire. |
No, not mayflies. They are completely different species. The cockchafers are big heavy insects which are normally plentiful for a few weeks at this time of year.
edit: link...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockchafer [Post edited 19 May 2019 22:05]
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| Cockchafers... on 22:05 - May 19 with 2679 views | WeWereZombies |
| Cockchafers... on 22:03 - May 19 by factual_blue |
Different beasties
Mayfly
Maybug
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I stand corrected, I saw lots of maybugs on my walk. They are very good at drowning themselves. | |
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| Cockchafers... on 22:08 - May 19 with 2662 views | Binner |
| Cockchafers... on 22:03 - May 19 by factual_blue |
Different beasties
Mayfly
Maybug
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Just in case anyone hasn't realised, Mr Factual has captioned his pictures the wrong way round a la PE... | |
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| Cockchafers... on 22:08 - May 19 with 2657 views | StochesStotasBlewe |
I have heard them called doodlebugs in the past, but personally call them Billy Witches, it is a Suffolk thing.
Not seen any yet in IP8, but they should be about now having a munch on the leaves of deciduous trees/shrubs.
I will keep an eye out this week. |  |
| We have no village green, or a shop.
It's very, very quiet.
I can walk to the pub. |
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| Cockchafers... on 22:08 - May 19 with 2660 views | wellyblue |
Growing up in Ipswich I never heard them called anything but Billywitches, it was years later that I found out that they were also known as Cockchafers. |  | | |
| Cockchafers... on 22:11 - May 19 with 2645 views | Guthrum |
Billywitches.
My father always used to say they crawl into your ears and eat your brain. Tho this may have just been to alarm us children. |  |
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| Cockchafers... on 22:11 - May 19 with 2645 views | WeWereZombies |
| Cockchafers... on 22:04 - May 19 by Binner |
No, not mayflies. They are completely different species. The cockchafers are big heavy insects which are normally plentiful for a few weeks at this time of year.
edit: link...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockchafer [Post edited 19 May 2019 22:05]
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Now I have looked at the Wikipedia link you posted I have no idea if you are right, Factual is right or I was right in the first place.
edit: I was right to say I had seen mayflies, and no I have not seen any cockchafers. [Post edited 19 May 2019 22:14]
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| Cockchafers... on 22:13 - May 19 with 2610 views | north_stand77 |
Always called them Billy Witches too, think it's a Suffolk term.
There seemed to be loads when I was young, often seen flying around outdoor light sources |  | | |
| Cockchafers... on 22:13 - May 19 with 2605 views | factual_blue |
| Cockchafers... on 22:08 - May 19 by Binner |
Just in case anyone hasn't realised, Mr Factual has captioned his pictures the wrong way round a la PE... |
My mistake. They are very similar though. | |
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| Cockchafers... on 22:15 - May 19 with 2592 views | Binner |
| Cockchafers... on 22:11 - May 19 by Guthrum |
Billywitches.
My father always used to say they crawl into your ears and eat your brain. Tho this may have just been to alarm us children. |
We used to be told that about earwigs and that is why they are so-called. | |
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| Cockchafers... on 22:15 - May 19 with 2584 views | WeWereZombies |
| Cockchafers... on 22:13 - May 19 by factual_blue |
My mistake. They are very similar though. |
Are they, b0llocks... | |
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| Cockchafers... on 22:16 - May 19 with 2577 views | factual_blue |
| Cockchafers... on 22:15 - May 19 by WeWereZombies |
Are they, b0llocks... |
The first three letters of each are practically identical. | |
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| Cockchafers... on 22:46 - May 19 with 2484 views | Smithy |
Doodlebugs |  |
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| Cockchafers... on 09:22 - May 20 with 2283 views | Guthrum |
| Cockchafers... on 22:46 - May 19 by Smithy |
Doodlebugs |
Hence the nickname for the German flying bombs during the War, which made a similar loud buzzing noise, due to their pulse-jet engines. | |
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| Cockchafers... on 09:25 - May 20 with 2274 views | flimflam |
Dune Beetles, Billywitches, Cockchafers
Not seen any for a couple of years but our campsite got invaded one year with thousands passing through.
Always seem to appear drunk and crashing into random objects.
Edit - may of imagined Dune Beetles, but always known them as Billywitches here in Suffolk. [Post edited 20 May 2019 9:28]
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| All men and women are created, by the, you know the, you know the thing. |
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| Cockchafers... on 09:41 - May 20 with 2250 views | GeoffSentence |
| Cockchafers... on 22:04 - May 19 by Binner |
No, not mayflies. They are completely different species. The cockchafers are big heavy insects which are normally plentiful for a few weeks at this time of year.
edit: link...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockchafer [Post edited 19 May 2019 22:05]
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Billywitches.
Your link may explain why you have not seen any.
"Because of their long development time as larvae, cockchafers appear in a cycle of every three or four years; the years vary from region to region. There is a larger cycle of around 30 years superimposed, in which they occur (or rather, used to occur) in unusually high numbers (10,000s)." |  |
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| Cockchafers... on 11:01 - May 20 with 2206 views | DebsyAngel |
Hope I don;t see any - they absolutely terrify me! |  | | |
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