We started out by setting up some
pitfall traps the day before. They were loaded up with some rotten fruit and
meat in order to attract as much insects and bugs as we could! These were
covered over with some wood to prevent any rain or small mammals from getting
into the traps.
The day of the Workshop was
bright and dry. Perfect weather for some bug hunting! We had a great turn out
with over 20 kids attending along with their parents (who were just as
interested as the kids!). The children were given a bug viewer, an insect
colouring book, an insect key and a Badger Club magazine to kick start their
creepy crawly interest. We started off with Kevin Delahunty explaining all the equipment
that we were going to use and how they all worked. The kids were very
interested in the beating trays, pooters, pitfall traps and sweep nets that we
had to show them.
The first stop was to the pitfall
traps (which we had emptied beforehand into a tray so they were free of rotten
food!). The kids all gathered around to see how they worked. We then showed
them what we had found in the trap which included some slugs, a ground beetle,
some small spiders and even some eggs which a fly had laid on a piece of the
meat. We then moved on to the beating tray and the children had a fun time
shaking branches to see what fell out onto the beating tray. They were given
pooters to suck up the insects to identify them. This was followed by a sweep
net demonstration in some tall grass. The children then spread out to search
for some insects on their own using their bug viewers and some borrowed pooters.
They found a huge range of insects including several species of spiders, a
harvestman, a millipede, several species of snails, some worms, a 7-spot
ladybird, a cranefly and lots of froghoppers and woodlouse. Overall it was a
great day and everyone enjoyed themselves and hopefully we sparked some lifelong
bug interests in the children (and maybe some of the adults).
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