Become a Nature Detective on the Hunt for Creepy Crawlies

Fancy yourself as Sherlock Holmes? Well, grab yourself a magnifying glass and your nature journal and get outside in your garden and the countryside. It’s amazing what’s out there lurking in the ground, on plants, flowers, and under bushes. Leave no stone unturned on your quest to find the goodies and baddies of the bug world. Who is responsible for eating the cabbage leaves? What is that slug up to on the tomato seedlings?

Once you start your detective work you’ll find all sorts of bugs and insects and see how they affect the environment they live in.

What creepy crawlies have you seen in your garden?

Busy, Buzzy Bees

We want to encourage certain insects into our gardens, especially bees. We need them to buzz around and pollinate the flowers in order for us to have sufficient fruit and vegetables to live on. Bees love sunflowers so if you want to attract them to your garden, plant some of these tall bright flowers in early Spring and watch them grow throughout the Summer. See how the bees swarm round the seeds in the centre of the flower.

Lovely Ladybirds

Don’t you just love watching a ladybird crawl across your hand? They are lovely little creatures to draw or you can make a ladybird pebble bug. They are very useful in the garden as they love eating greenflies who are nasty villains.

Greedy Greenflies

Greenflies are guilty of a number of offences in the garden. They pierce the leaves and stems of plants with their pointed mouths and then suck out the sap, yuck! This makes the plants weak and they may die.

Slimy Slugs

Slugs are horrible, they love feeding on seedlings and plants. But for the intrepid nature detective they are easy to trace. They leave a silvery trail behind them. Gardeners try all sorts of methods to deter slugs from their plants. Putting crushed egg shells on the soil is one way of dealing with them, coffee grounds is another. No doubt the gardeners amongst you will have other ways of dealing with these pests. Let us know what works for you…

Battling Beetles

Beetles may look scary but they are very helpful in the garden. They eat up all the little insects and slugs that feed on your plants and seedlings.

Crazy Caterpillars

If you grow cabbages or lettuces you are probably not very keen on caterpillars, remember the Hungry Caterpillar? But then they do turn into beautiful moths and butterflies and Summer wouldn’t be the same without them.

As the seasons change different bugs and insects will find their home in your garden.

Have you caught any insects or bugs up to no good in your garden? Post photos of the creepy crawlies in your garden to our facebook page.