The humble moth ... ...

To be honest I'd never really given much thought to moths (or butterflies) at least until my son was born, on the night he was born it was quite warm so we had the windows open, and the usual thing happened, open window + lights and in come the moths, but we only got one type of moth that night, they are known as old ladies, they are quite a large moth and although quite common I'd never seen one, and I haven't seen one since.

Here's a link to a page about the Old lady moth (Mormo Maura) - Old lady moth (opens in new window)

Anyway since then I've given moths a lot more consideration, seems when I read nature articles and such like they are almost always about butterflies, not that there's anything wrong with them, I just prefer moths I guess.

So last year whilst I was on my travels I found a caterpillar, it turned out to be a Lime Hawk moth caterpillar, here's another link to a picture of one - Lime Hawk moth (opens in new window)

As the little chap was heading towards the road I moved him back to some trees, and on my way back there he was again, so I took him home for the kids to look at, with the intention of letting him go, but shortly after he arrived this happened.

Not a caterpillar anymore -

The kids were fascinated.

Eventually the chrysalis turned brown, and for almost a year it has been in a jar, and the kids have been waiting patiently for it to change into a moth, and yesterday it did.

Here he is (we're pretty sure it's a he) - 

Isn't he great ?

Now we just need him to sort himself out so we can let him go, this is the second moth we've had hatch (not sure hatch is the right word) the first was an Angle shade, yes that is a real moth.

The Angle shade - 

Another great moth.

We also have another Angle shade that's still in chrysalis form, so the kids are eagerly awaiting it's hatching.

Moths I feel are some what over looked, but I think they are great, all the chrysalises we've found in our garden (apart from the Lime hawk moth) we also found a load at our allotment, so we plan to find some more and watch them change and have fun identifying them, I had hoped I'd catch the hawk moth as it started to emerge so I could do a little time lapse photography, but it beat me to it.

It's a very educational experience, for us and the kids, and now we are on the look out for a couple of these.

Cinnabar caterpillars -  

Tiger pillars ?

These are an interesting moth, usually people think of moths as a night time insect, but these are usually seen flying in the day (and at night sometimes) they usually feed on ragwort, which makes the caterpillars taste really nasty to predators, the moths themselves are a lovely black and red colour.

A Cinnabar moth - 

Another great moth.

As moths go these are quite colourful, and I guess that's why people prefer butterflies, they are after all better looking and fly in the day, but spare a thought for the humble moth, we did have a extra special moth in the garden last year, it was a humming bird hawk moth, these are becoming more frequent in this country, although as yet I haven't been able to get a good picture of one, I plan to sort that out, and we'll all be on the look out for other types of moth we might have in the garden and surrounding countryside.

I guess this is all about teaching kids about nature, so next time you dig up a chrysalis of some kind, why not keep it and let it hatch, then you can have fun finding out what it is, it's a good learning experience for the kids, just pop it in a jar on a bit of tissue, make sure to put a few holes in the lid.

Here's a few more pictures of our moths.

Lime hawk moth - 

He's quite furry.

Wing markings - 

Subtle colouring.

Front view - 

Awesome moth.

The Angle shade - 

It has a slight pink tinge to it in parts.

A close up - 

Looks like a leaf.

Release day - 

Hopefully it's doing well.

So next time you are out and about, keep an eye out for our humble moths, they are just as important as butterflies, some also pollinate our plants as well.

Thanks for reading, and I'll leave you with this quote, not a truer word spoken if you ask me.

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard.  ~ Standing Bear

A rant about 'Nature deficit disorder' ... ...

These are my own views, they are not based on any research or statistics, just my opinion as a parent.

Not content with the myriad of disorders our kids can already suffer from we have a new contender in the form of 'Nature deficit disorder'

I'm not making this up by the way - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17495032 (opens in new window)

This isn't the first time I've heard this term, or the first time I've heard that kids (and adults) are loosing touch with nature, it's been happening for years, and the term 'Nature deficit disorder' was coined by American Richard Louv in 2005 - http://richardlouv.com/ (opens in new window)

I haven't read the book, and to be honest I know very little about Richard Louv, but I do know we are loosing touch with nature, child and adult alike, I've seen it with my own eyes, did you know some people who live near me didn't know that this country has native lizards ? tell me that's not a shame.

And what about kids who have no idea what or where some of their food comes from, I read an article a while ago that said some kids who were asked about food thought carrots were made up, not grown squeezed out of some machine in a factory some where, things like this make me sad.

So who is to blame ?

Well I personally think it's a variety of things, for a start trying to keep track of 30 kids in a class room is difficult and taking them to a local woods or park is going to be much harder, I understand schools reluctance to risk loosing a child or having one get injured, we live in a world where suing people is the new black, and then there's the cost of having extra staff to help keep an eye on them, and with the government cutting costs left right and centre it's not going to get any easier any time soon.

I'd like to say that it's the fault of schools or the government and in part it probably is, I recently said on twitter that if it's a 'disorder' it can't be the fault of the government or the schools, and I've seen the way some school herd children about when they do let them out into the open.

The reality I suspect is a bit different, remember this ? - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9001511/Peppa-Pig-is-making-children-naughty-parents-fear.html (opens in new window)

This article had me ranting for ages, for crying out loud it's a kids tv program, and speaking from experience I can almost guarantee that a kid is going to view a puddle in the same way whether they've seen peppa pig or not, it's what being a kid is about, exploring,getting muddy (heaven forbid) and general finding out about the world they live in, so maybe it's parents that are to blame ? we do tend to wrap our kids in cotton wool these days, it's a far cry to what I remember when I was a kid, if we didn't get at least one cut knee or bruised elbow and covered in mud it wasn't a good day out.

My point is that what chance do our kids have if we worry when they jump in a puddle ? what harm does muddy water do ? basically none, perhaps it's more to do with the pile of washing it creates ... ...

I get that times are different now, me and my friends could go out in the morning in the summer holidays and not be back until it was dark, our parents didn't have the worries we do now, it's a dangerous world for any number of reasons, but even so is that any excuse not to let them explore ? what about taking them to the woods ? or the local park to play football ? nature is almost everywhere and it doesn't cost to walk about in it.

It's up to us is what I'm saying, I home educate my kids and we get out when ever we can, our kids are very interested in nature, they love it, and that's in part down to us dragging them away from the tv and their video games and saying come outside and look at the flowers and the animals.

If we don't engage their minds who will ? the schools ? the government ? see this is as much about us as it is them, if they see us getting grubby looking for bugs or doing some gardening they'll want in on the action, are our lives so busy we don't have the time to get into nature with our kids ? ask yourself if twitter,facebook and what ever else are that important you can't turn off the pc or your phone and go and have a walk out in the open.

I'm as bad as the next person for using the pc, but take it from me switching it off once in a while is good, and look at the upside, instead of telling people online how many cups of tea you've had that morning you get to spend quality time with your kids,you get exercise out in the fresh air, you learn about stuff, you save money in electric bills and on your phone bill.

They are our kids, it's not the sole responsibility of the schools or the government to raise them and teach them, that job is ours, ultimately the schools and the government work for us, and what hope does the planet have if future generations of kids have no interest in it ?

If you build it, they will come ... ...

Yes if you build it they will come ... ...

But build what exactly ? (don't worry this is going somewhere) I'm talking bugs, or more specifically ways you can attract bugs into your garden, and not just bugs all manner of wildlife.

Why would I want to attract bugs into my garden ? I hear you ask, quite frankly why wouldn't you ? see attracting bugs leads to other wildlife coming to your garden, for example if you grow things that attract slugs and snails (like we do) then you may find that after time you get things that eat them, like frogs and toads, and if your really lucky you'll get a hedgehog.

Not a great picture, we were stunned by Oh my god it's a hedgehog !

When we first moved into this house we saw a hedgehog in the garden, and set about trying to make sure it was okay, we didn't put food out, but we adapted the pond so they couldn't get stuck in the water, and if they did manage to get into the pond we made it so they could get out, but we only saw one hedgehog,and to the best of our knowledge we haven't had any since, that was four years ago, so needless to say we were a little surprised when we saw this little hedgehog snuffling about the other night.

You see the place you call a garden where you like to sit and chill out is much much more than that, even small gardens are little eco-systems, you'd be surprised at how many living things are right outside your door, and even if you don't have a garden I bet you could find loads of different things living around your house, inside and out.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, kids (and adults) are losing touch with nature, and it's a shame, especially when we can do something about it, and it's simple stuff that doesn't cost loads of money, and it will also benefit us as well.

So here's how to build a bug house, they are really easy to make yourself, but you can also buy them, but this will cost a little more, and to be honest it makes more sense to build one yourself because you can get the kids involved and they will learn about bugs and wildlife in general.

All you need for this is 4 bits of wood, about 4 inches wide and a load of garden canes (obviously you'll need some nails or screws as well)

What you're going to make is something like this -

It's not the best bit of wood work I've ever done, but it doesn't need to be.

It's basically a box stuffed with bits of garden cane, but it creates little nooks and crannies that bugs love, this is the second one we've made, and it's easy enough for the kids to help as well.

So to make this you will need 4 bit of wood, the size isn't that important, but the wood needs to be about 4 inches wide, you can make it as big or as small as you want.

Measure out your wood, the pictures are just for reference really as the size of the bug box is up to you -

Measuring out, ours is made from old bits of floor board.

Once you have your 4 bits of wood you then need to fix them together to make a box, like so - 

You can use nails or screws to fix it together.

You may or may not have noticed that the bug box I made is rectangular, but the one in the picture is square, this is because I didn't have enough garden cane to fill it, so had to shorten the sides a little, so top tip, make sure you have enough stuff to complete this project before starting it :-)

Once you have your box all you need to do is stuff it full of short lengths of garden cane, which you need to cut at roughly the same width as the box, you can leave some a little shorter or longer as this will create extra holes and gaps for bugs, the thicker the garden cane the better, about 1cm or more is good.

When that's done you can fix it in a warm spot some where in your garden, or on a wall somewhere (if you don't have a garden) a nice warm spot is good for bugs, you might even get some bees staying for a while.

Like I said this is the second one we've made, the first was built for ladybirds, we even painted it red and gave it black spots (feel free to decorate your bug box) however we didn't get many ladybirds, mainly because these guys moved in.

Meet Nuctenea umbratica The Walnut Orb Weaver.

Yes our ladybird house got taken over by big black spiders, but we don't mind as spiders go these are quite interesting, they only come out at night and they make really great webs. Here's some information about this spider - Walnut Orb Weaver (opens in new window) So even if you don't get the bugs you intended you will get something equally as interesting.

Here's something else you can do, this time for bees, and no you don't need a bee hive, in fact all you need is some tube and a couple of plant pots.
Some bees don't make hives, they make much smaller nests of sometimes a few and sometimes just one or two, you might have seen them going into holes in the ground, or into holes in trees and such like, well you can build them a hotel, which will give them a warm dry place to rest up when the weather gets cooler.



Here's ours -

Confession time, I actually made this last year :-)

Yes I made it last year, and I finally got round to putting it in the garden this year (bad I know) but better late than never right ? ;-)

Here it is in the garden -

You can just see the tubes poking out from under the rocks.

I used some old hoover hose pipe I had lying about this works well, but you can get bits of tubing from diy type shops quite cheaply, and most people have a couple of plant pots lying about.

Here's the how to (if you click it you can get a bigger view, then just right click and save the picture to your system)

Bee hotel -

Easy to follow instructions :-)

Of course you can also grow plants in your garden that will attract bugs and such like, and bees love a nice flower, and even if you don't have a garden it's not the end of the world, get a small window box and plant some flowers in it, you may not get anything straight away, but they will come, and you can sit at your window and watch them come and go with the kids.

And if for some reason you can't do any of the things I've mentioned, you can always go looking for bugs in and around where you live, you'll be surprised where bugs end up, take a camera and a magnifying glass, and a book to help identify the bugs you find, trust me kids love looking for bugs, and please if you find any bugs under rocks and such like always put the rocks back in the same place when you are finished looking, you wouldn't like it if some one moved your house and didn't put it back again ;-)

Thanks for reading.