A charity is calling on people to take part in helping endangered stag beetles this summer.

The People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) is asking residents of known stag beetle areas – one of which is Dorset – to take part in a study of the species.

There were 522 verified stag beetle sightings in Dorset throughout 2018.

The overall figure for England was 6,905.

The charity asks that people record any sightings of the beetles to ptes.org/gsh

Laura Bower, Conservation Officer at PTES, explains: “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.”

For the study, PTES requests that people taking part in the study walk 500m on six occasions on warm summer evenings between June and July.

Stag beetles are the largest land beetle in the UK and can grow up to 8cm in length.

They are in decline due to a lack of dead wood, which is vital for them to lay their eggs.

People wishing to help conserve the species can do so by building a log pile and leaving out dead wood.

Anyone who finds one should leave it alone and report the sighting to the above website.

People interested in taking part in the study can find out more at stagbeetlemonitoring.org