These dopey summer chafers are in decline so I’m happy to have seen one! I thought it was dead at first but it’s probably only just emerged so especially clumsy. Hopefully it’ll find a mate and it didn’t get eaten straight after I took it outside.
Poor thing must’ve overslept. It’s nearly July!
Haha, I think they often appear close to the Summer Solstice! So it was only one day late if that’s the case.
A very early childhood memory of mine was playing swingball with my mother in the garden, one of these came lumbering through the field of conflict. I don’t think mother even noticed it until it flew exactly into the space where the tennis ball and her raquet were about to connect; she obliterated it. I knew it was an accident but it was a while until I could look at her the same way I did before.