Trick or treat!

Halloween is finally here and we all have one evening to get it over quick before the count down to Christmas. I gave in yet again and got talked into hosting a Halloween party. We stocked up on sweets, lit our pumpkins, dressed up the little horrors and dusted down the Monster Munch CD. As darkness fell the doorbell rang and I was confronted by an assortment of ghosts and ghouls. One daring ghost called out "trick or treat!" He was quickly shushed by the others, and much to my amusement, the whisper was, " she keeps loads of cockroaches, theres NOTHING that can frighten her, go for a treat..." Obviously the fact that I keep a house full of cockroaches did not put them off my chocolate offerings and they all dived into my cauldron of Crunchies, Mars Bars and Chocolate Buttons with relish. After my new found friends had gone, happily munching on their treats, I was left wondering why we still have such a deep rooted fear of insects. It is quite normal to posses a reasonable fear of creatures we do not easily recognize and this has kept us safe since we came down from the trees, but it is healthy to keep that fear in check. Remember, before you bash the living daylights out of something scuttling across your living room floor, perhaps you could instead catch it in a jar, admire it, look it up in a book or on the internet and then pop it out of the front door ..........

Do not put beetles in your mouth!

Charles Darwin was a avid collector. He collected many things during his life including birds eggs, rocks, shells and beetles. He had a real thing for beetles which I quite understand and fully appreciate. In Downs House a few of his beetles are on display, all carefully pinned and labelled by his own hand. These very beetles Darwin no doubt referred to many times and examined in great detail. What I want to share with you was his pure delight in his beetles with a quote from his autobiography: 'I will give a proof of my zeal: one day, on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles and seized one in each hand; then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so that I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. Alas it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as well as the third one.'  Those of you that know me, now know why I always carry collecting pots!

Charles Darwin.

Darwin's Study almost as it was. Where he wrote, examined, experimented and studied.

Darwin's beautifully labelled beetles.

A perfect place....

I have been on a pilgrimage today and it was something I have wanted to do for a very long time. It is half term, and I decided to take my family with me to share an experience I hoped they too, would find very special. We went to Downs House in Kent. Now owned by English Heritage but formally the home of Charles and Emma Darwin. ( www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/home-of-charles-darwin-down-house/ ) I was impressed at how "Darwinian" the whole place felt and it was wonderful that you were free to touch and explore. For me it was a humbling experience to walk around their home. To be able to look at some of Darwin's books and notes, to see the gardens and glasshouse where he did so much detailed and careful study, was all truly wonderful stuff. I walked under the trees that he had planted, over the lawn where his family had played and sat in a wicker chair on his veranda where once, he too, had done exactly the same. I got a real sense of this great man. My boys had a wonderful time too. They enjoyed the displays and most poignantly, upstairs in what is thought to have been Darwin's bedroom and the place where he died, they had an interactive room specifically for children, to help break down the key ideas in his work. Given Darwin's non-conformist approach to his Victorian family life I felt he would have greatly approved and found it a fitting epilogue. If I had to choose just one memory of today though, it would have to be the laying five flint stones on the corner of the Sandwalk and each of us taking a turn to kick one to the side as we completed a lap. To walk where Darwin once did, to tread in his footsteps where he wrestled with his ideas and to watch our children run ahead, as he must have done occasionally with his own, was my moment. I have a huge respect for Charles Darwin, for what he achieved for science and for his dedication to study. He is one of my legends and our visit today did not disappoint. I recommend a trip to Kent.......

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Downs house

Darwin's thinking path, the Sandwalk.

 The kitchen garden with the greenhouse and Darwin's laboratory built in brick behind it. Beyond that is the orchard where he did his 'weed garden' experiments.

Jaws of the night.

The great thing about old rotten logs on the ground is that you never know what you are going to find under them! I do not know about you, but I for one can not resist lifting that old log up and discovering the secrets it hides. Now, being October, there are fewer invertebrates lingering around  but I was pleased to find this wonderful little chap. He is a Violet Ground Beetle, Carabus violaceus a large and fast predator who loves woodlands and has a particular taste for slugs. Easy to identify because of his size and a metallic violet sheen around the outline of his body. Mainly nocturnal and unable to fly, this insect is something to be worried about if you were another invertebrate living under that log! Its larva too are predatory and equipped with some seriously powerful jaws. Great stuff!

The jaws of a Ground Beetle are toothed, frighten him and he will give you a nip!

Incy Wincy Spider.....

The first thing most people ask me about the Minibeast Mayhem Roadshow is am I going to bring any spiders. The answer is no. I have to say I absolutely love spiders and have no problem with them at all. When I worked for the Suffolk Wildlife Trust I was based on a fantastic nature reserve called Redgrave and Lopham Fen, www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org and it was here that I got very up close and personal with one of the UKs rarest spiders. The Fen Raft Spider, Dolomedes plantarius, is a magnificent spider and big too, with the females reaching a impressive 7cm across in maturity, www.dolomedes.org.uk. These spiders really are beautifully marked and totally gorgeous but unfortunately very dependant on one particular, specialized habitat. We have more than 600 species of spider in the UK. Only 12 have ever been known to bite humans -we have done a lot worse to them lets remember here! Included in those 12 is a particular family called Theridiidae or the Comb-footed Spiders. (So called because of the tiny bristles on the tips of their back legs that they use to spread out their web).This family includes a famous relative you will have heard of... the dastardly Black Widow. That is one spider you really do not want to get bitten by, especially as they have an uncanny habit of living inside toilet bowls. We DO NOT have Black Widow Spiders living in the wild all over the UK and NO ONE has ever died directly from a native spider bite in the UK. But what we do have is the False Widow Spiders Steatoda grossa and Steatoda nobilis. These are awesome little spiders with that distinct body shape that immediately raises your suspicions. They can bite, and I am told it is like being stung, but cases are rare. They are in Southern Britain and with the milder winters are beginning to spread northwards.

Brilliant Bug Clubbers!

At the AES Annual Exhibition and Trade Show you can see the AES Bug Club exhibits. These are exhibits put forward by children aged between 5 and 16 who are members of the Bug Club www.amentsoc.org/bug-club/. I was seriously impressed with the standard of presentation this year. These are children who simply have a interest in invertebrates but are willing to share that with others. One very young lad bought his bug collection with plastic models, toys and real specimens. He was full of enthusiasm and had travelled a long way in a car without air conditioning. Not that hard in October you might think but the temperature got up to a seriously sticky 28C. He was undaunted and smiled all day, charming the young and old. Another pair decided to teach the art of pinning as part of their exhibit. Always a popular activity with children, they had plenty of interest and I must say I have learnt a great deal from this particular young girl over the years. Her passion is cockroaches and she is extremely knowledgeable on the subject. Never under estimate the abilities of children no matter their size or age! Another lad displayed his research on ants and accompanied it with exquisite watercolours he had done. The well deserved overall winner was a real entomologist in the making. Almost to the point of obsession, this boy knows his plasmids, (stick insects) and the detail his observations went into was second to none. A really superb piece of work entirely by his own hand. My two entered their own exhibits, my youngest on the joys of bug hunting and my eldest on the Silk Moth Bombyx mori. Both had worked hard and my youngest son is painfully shy so it was a real delight to see him chatting about his exhibit to the public and to the judges. Well done to all that entered and well done to the Bug Club for enabling them to do it in the first place!

All you need to know about silk and the Silk Moth.

The art of bug hunting.

Ready to teach.....

Beautiful paintings in fantastic detail.

Amazing ants.

A first class exhibit on plasmids.

The treasures of a little boy.

Children just can not resist pinning something!

Super Show!

WOW- hot and exhausted but what a fantastic day yet again at the AES Annual Exhibition and Trade Show www.amentsoc.org.So much to see and far too much temptation to buy! Another outstanding event and a great day to catch up with old  friends as well as make some new. Row upon row of entomology trade stands all packed with equipment, specimens, livestock and reference books. We did not know where to look first! I get far too excited at these events and we all rush around trying to get the other to look at what we have found. The boys bought mantis nymphs, I got carried away with caterpillars and my husband with pinned specimens. Both soppy begging and loud pleading by myself and my eldest son for spiders fell on deaf ears with the other half of the family. We did however get to admire some really beautiful tarantulas. I was able to momentarily ditch the rest of the family to have some deep conversations with various invertebrate organizations and even managed to chat about Gall Wasps at length without the accompanying sighs and yawns from the minor members of the tribe. We all left with more knowledge and slightly less money than when we arrived but very happy at having had the most glorious day out!

Bug B&B

Just back from another lovely little village school who have a woodwork and craft after school club. They have the most incredible school garden surrounded by a stream and you have to go over a little bridge to get to it. Fantastic space and a really magical environment for all the children! What was I doing at their woodwork and craft club you may wonder. Well their teacher very proudly, (and rightly so), showed me what the children had been doing about habitats in class. They had produced some amazing work and this is where it all ties in. I was asked to introduce the children to the concept of a Bug Hotel. This is a tower made up from wooden pallets and stuffed full of different habitats. Ideal for invertebrates needing somewhere to overwinter as well as all year round living. The Bug Hotel is very 'in' this year with even the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show gardens boasting a few as part of their architectural themes. I think they are an awesome but simple idea and really great fun for the children to design and make. Situated in a forgotten corner they will last for years and provide plenty of study. We had a brilliant evening working out what habitats they could provide and what invertebrates they might find in each. The children showed a great amount of thought with not only their habitats, but also their materials and practical design. Tremendous achievement and I really hope they attract loads of different species!

 

 

Room with a view!