Ketton Quarry Family Bug and Butterfly Hunt – Saturday 10th August
This year we were delighted to be sharing our Annual bug hunt as a joint venture with Fee, from the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust. Fee is a Next-door Nature Community organiser and well used to sharing her enthusiasm with younger wild life champions.
The day started at 9am by setting up the LRWT and RNHS banners outside the Scout hut and then getting to work setting out the tables and various paraphanalia to arm the children for the hunt in the Quarry. The weather was cool and overcast in the morning, not ideal for butterflies or insects, but by the time we were ready for our first session at 10.30, we had gathered a small assortment of children, each carrying a sweep net, bug pot, tray, hand lens and FSC insect charts. After a brief introduction about how to use the equipment and simple safety instructions by Fee, we led the party down the road and into the Quarry.
Soon the bug pots were full of Harvestmen, Crickets, Shieldbugs, beetles and the like, each child proudly handing round their catch for identification. Fee had brought down a large white sheet, which was placed just under the trees and shook down anything clinging to the shrubs. Back in the hut, after welcome refreshments, the children were encouraged to write down on the board those bugs and butterflies they had caught and identified. Although there were more children for the afternoon hunt (a total of 17 children attending both sessions), the cloudy weather had turned to a gentle drizzle by 2.00pm. The format was the same however, a walk into the quarry with our nets, pots and trays to identify any bugs or butterflies that were still lurking in the wet undergrowth and swept enthusiastically into the nets and then emptied into pots or trays to be forensically examined and puzzled over.