Explore your garden – go on a Bug Hunt

To celebrate National Insect Week (25^th June – 1^st July) why go on a Bug Hunt in your school garden or at home. Gardens have become a haven for wildlife, especially now that our farmland is becoming more intensively farmed. There are hundreds of different species of Insects but being small and quite elusive they often go unnoticed in our day-to-day life, why not go and explore your patch to see what is living on your doorstep.

 

Be prepared

You may need to wear waterproof/old clothes and Wellingtons.Equipment

A Minibeast/Insect Identification Guide, Camera, Magnifying Glass, Note Pad, Pencil and a suitable container (not airtight) to study the insects (release any insects as soon as possible and return them to where they were found, please take care not to harm the insects themselves nor cause significant disturbance to their environment).

 

Where to look

Have a look under stones/rocks/plant pots/logs and rotting wood, in compost heaps and long grass, on the underside of leaves, on flower heads, in leaf litter and near ponds (always have an adult with you).

Dragonfly

Insects to look out for

• Dragonflies and Damselflies
• Ladybirds
• Grasshoppers/Crickets
• Beetles
• Butterflies
• Hoverflies
• Aphids/Greenfly
• Moths
• Lacewings
• Ants
• Wasps
• Bees
• Earwigs
• Flies
• Bugs

Once you find your insect, make a record of what it is, draw a picture of it or take a photograph, record where you found it, what it was doing or what it was eating/feeding on and the date (Write your information in your Wildlife Diary).

 

This is a great way to get children (and adults) outdoors and interested in their environment, and it is something that everyone can do whatever their age (I love it as much as Thomas).

 

Happy hunting

 

Gill

 

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