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How you can help noble chafer beetles

Tips for noble chafer-friendly orchard management

If you are lucky enough to find evidence of the noble chafer in your orchard, follow these steps to ensure the beetles continue to thrive, or pass them onto the orchard owners:

  • Take care when pruning and leave thick branches alone as these may contain noble chafer larvae.
  • Encroaching scrub should be controlled around trees that are known, or suspected, to have noble chafer within them as increased shading may cool the trunk which in turn may affect the development of the larvae.
  • Fallen trees should be left undisturbed as they may contain developing noble chafer larvae. Where they need to be moved for access, move them to the side of the orchard where they can continue to support deadwood invertebrates and fungi.
  • Aim for an organic approach to the management of your orchard. Pesticides may poison noble chafer and fertilisers may compromise tree health through impacts on fungal mycorrhizae which have many benefits to trees.
  • Planting new trees will maintain a diverse age structure and ensure the continued presence of wood-decay habitats and future habitat for the noble chafer.
  • An active management programme is beneficial to orchard wildlife in maintaining the open structure which favours noble chafer and other key species.

Report a sighting

You can also report a one off sighting and get further advice here. This will help us find out where they are still living in the UK, allowing conservationists to save them from extinction.

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