WildBristol.uk - Discovering Wildlife in Bristol

Scattered across the South of the UK. In the Lane location they are extremely common. Habitat includes: meadows, gardens, woodland, parks, church yards, allotments, scrub, hedgerows, road side verges. They feed on various flowers, fruits and leaves such as roses. I've seen them eat Oxeye daisies, dandelions. They have a preference towards flowers in the Composite family. Length= 14-20mm. The Adults are usually seen between April and September. In the Lane location they peak at around May-June. And I've seen them all year round the adults tend to fly in warm sunny weather and are extremely clumsy as they crash into anything and everything. The grubs are layed in rich humus soil such as in woodland clearings or rotten wood typically in garden pots at around 20cm deep The adult lands on the surface then quickly burrows down lays an egg and then moves on to another location to lay more eggs. The grubs stay in the ground for around 2-3 years before metamorphosing into the adult form during the winter of there 2nd or 3rd year then emerge in the spring the following year.