On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 11:17:21 +0100, "Mary Fisher"
wrote:

I've never seen one of these, sadly, I think we might be too far north.

Wait for next May and I'll post you a bagful!

They're pretty common and extend as far North as Derby (IMHE), if not
further. The awkward species, the one that will lay in dry timber not
just green, is only found in Kent and Essex. Now those would worry me,
but I know mine just aren't interested in laying in anything felled more
than a year ago.

I find them in oak sapwood. 1/4" oval tunnels, and enough damage in one
layer to make the whole bark come off in a sheet. However they barely
touch the heartwood - too much tannin. Oddly they also like to burrow
_below_ the cambium, which I'd have thought was the tastiest part. I've
had some bark split off where there's "two storey beetle housing" -
longhorns below and other smaller borers following the cambium layer.