It's May and this is a May bug!

I found this beautiful beetle today while I was out looking for sallow leaves for my Puss moth larvae I am rearing.
I have always had a soft spot for these large beetles that you often find in the morning hanging around under lamp posts during April and May.
They are also known as Cockchafers which in Old English means 'Big beetle' which indeed they are at 25-30mm in length.
They belong to the scarab family of beetles, and have a long pointed segment at the end of the abdomen used by the females to lay eggs and NOT to sting you as some might suspect.
They are strong flyers, and I often catch them in my moth trap.
I think the perhaps the most fascinating thing about them are the club like antennae which open out to form small fans.
In the UK we also get Rose chafers, Garden Chafers and Summer chafers, I will attempt to find and blip you some of these as we go on through the summer.