Volunteers needed to share sightings of one of Europe’s biggest insects, whose numbers may be declining – and you can now submit audio and video for the first time too

The Great Stag Hunt – an important citizen science survey run by wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) – is back for its 29th year and for the first time, PTES wants your video or audio clips of spectacular stag beetles in flight too.

PTES is keen for as many people across Britain as possible to take part in the Great Stag Hunt and record visual sightings of stag beetles, as the data they help to collect makes a valuable contribution to stag beetle conservation efforts. Conservationists hope that, in future, it might be possible to monitor stag beetles acoustically by using software to recognise the characteristic ‘thrumming’ of the beetles in flight. However, PTES needs lots of video and audio data first to explore whether this is possible. Every contribution is important – whether visual, audio, or video – and it’s simple to take part.