Bug Hunt

27 June 2009

16 adults and children joined entomologist Lawrence Bee on a bug hunt through the community woodland on a hot sunny Saturday morning. Lawrence swept the glade with a net, capturing several grass bugs, and was able to explain that to an entomologist, bugs are a special group of insects which often have overlapping wings: examples are waterboatmen, which we didn't find in the woodland and aphids of which there were many! He also found an adult froghopper in that first sweep; many of us are familiar with young froghopper larvae which coat themselves in cuckoo spit, made by blowing air through their waste liquid and preventing their soft young bodies from drying out. A couple of people had brought beetles along for Lawrence to identify. Patrick Boston showed us some particularly impressive mint beetles from his garden; with their beautiful iridescent green wing cases, they looked like Christmas tree ornaments.

We then split up to shake tree branches over trays and sheets to see what surprises might fall. We soon found that oak trees offered the biggest range of creepy crawlies and ash, the least. Finds included a rather fierce looking striped scorpion fly, a large black and white ichneumon fly, some very colourful spiders and a woodlouse. Interestingly, woodlice hatch with 12 legs and gain another 2 when they shed their skins. 2 handsome green oak bush crickets were found on a nettle among the newly coppiced hazel; with their bodies about 1 cm long, they were really young and can expect to double or triple in size by the end of the summer. The largest creature we saw was a stag beetle, found by the smallest bug hunter.

We enjoyed coffee, lemonade and biscuits in the glade while releasing our finds back into the undergrowth. We are very grateful to Lawrence for sharing his expertise.

2009 news index