NATURE lovers in Dorset are being urged to keep an eye out for beetles as part of a national conservation survey.

Wildlife charity People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and Royal Holloway University of London have joined forces for the initiative, in a bid to conserve the threatened noble chafer beetle.

The organisations are now seeking volunteers to look for the species over a two-week period in June, to find out where they are still living in the UK, allowing conservationists to help save them from extinction.

Volunteers will be asked to set up a harmless trap and fit it with a chemical lure – specially developed to attract noble chafer beetles, meaning it shouldn’t attract many other insects. The trap will need checking daily and any beetles need to be photographed then released. Full instructions and equipment will be given to all volunteers.

To find out more information and to take part in the survey, contact Dr Deborah Harvey, postdoctoral research fellow at Royal Holloway on d.harvey@rhul.ac.uk.