Urocerus gigas Sircicae Giant Horntail at Trench Wood NR

John Bingham

I visited Trench Wood on 11th July 2011 to photograph the aspen roller weevil (which was found in some abundance) but an unexpected addition was a sighting of Urocerus gigas flying around a cut Scots pine, mostly just consisting of just lop and top branches. This large impressive insect (Fig. 1.) made several circuits around an open glade before landing. I rarely ever see this insect in Worcestershire and Harry Green reported that there are only occasional records from the county, one every several years or so. In fact one appeared at Elmley Castle at nearly the same time as my Trench Wood record (H Green pers.comm. 2011).

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Fig. 1 Urocerus gigas at Trench Wood. ©John Bingham