WILDLIFE enthusiasts are being urged to report stag beetle sightings to help with an on-going study.

People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) has been monitoring the creature for two decades and now wants to carry out a more in-depth survey as part of the European Stag Beetle Monitoring Network.

Volunteer are asked to walk 500 metres on six occasions between June and July on warm, summer evenings, recording any stag beetles they see.

The European Stag Beetle Monitoring Network is co-funded by PTES, and was set up by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest in 2008. It comprises partner institutes and universities from 14 European countries including the UK, Spain, France and Germany. The network aims to assess population levels across Europe, monitoring the stag beetle’s full range.

Laura Bower, conservation officer at PTES, said: “We have been running the Great Stag Hunt, and other conservation initiatives for stag beetles, for over 20 years. Thanks to the thousands of people who have recorded their stag beetle sightings over the years, we now have a really good idea of where stag beetles live, but what we don’t yet know is whether their numbers are going up or down.

"Now, we want people to go one step further and take part in this European study too, so we can understand how stag beetles are faring on a wider scale.”

Visit stagbeetlemonitoring.org or ptes.org/stagbeetles to find out more.