Grass Snake and Slow Worm
 Both are reptiles but the Slow Worm is a lizard not a snake despite having no legs.
We saw the Slow Worm had eyelids and the Grass Snake did not. |
Cuckoo Spit
 We
found frothy Cuckoo Spit on grass and flower stems in the Wildlife Garden. We discovered
by blowing gently on the bubbles that the larvae of froghoppers were revealed.
They make the froth and are sometimes called Spittle Bugs.
We learnt that the froth is made out of sap from the plant and gave the larvae protection
from predators. |
Crickets and Grasshoppers
 We
found crickets and grasshoppers in the Wildlfie Garden.
The crickets were easy to identify because they had much longer antennae.
The same species of grasshopper can appear in different colour forms. |
Emperor Moths
 We
cut open the empty cocoons of the Emperor Moths reared by the school as part of
the WASP project in 2009. For more details see the
Emperor Moth and Update pages.
Inside the pear-shaped cocoons we found the hard case of the pupa and inside that was
the skin of the caterpiillar.
We could see the hole through which the adult Emperor Moth emerged. |
Flowers
 Plants
have brightly-coloured and scented flowers which attract lots of different insects
such as butterflies, beetles, bees, flies and hoverflies.
We watched the insects feeding on
the nectar in the flowers.
Flowers produce nectar for the insects which then pollinate the flowers as they
feed. |
Weather
 When
the sun was out we saw lots more insects such as butterflies around the school grounds
than when it was raining.
Many insects such as butterflies need to be warm before they can fly.
We also found Large Yellow Underwing and daytime flying moths such as Yellow Shell. |
Sweep Nets
 Some
insects can be difficult to find but by sweeping through the long grass with a net
we found lots of different kinds of insects including spiders and Meadow Plant bugs.
We used two different types of net: one with a very fine mesh that was light and
could easily be swept through the grass and one that could be dragged through prickly
bramble. |
Telescope
 When
we looked through a telescope we could watch animals without disturbing them.
We
could also see much more detail on birds like Chaffinches and House Sparrows using the telescope.
We learnt how to move the telescope up and down until it was the right height for us
to see through teh eyepiece. We could read the notice on the entrance gate to the Nature
Reserve from the far end pf the playing field. |