Insects and Other Creepy Crawlies

Rolling around on the grass when I was younger – a lot younger- I would see ants and what we called the black rain beetle. It was said that if you squashed this beetle it would rain for days. Judging by how much rain we have had this year and the fact that I rarely see them anymore I think a lot must have been squashed!

Rain Beetle

Another thing we used to do was strip the leaves off a length of willow twig and bend it over and use the loop to collect spiders’ webs. The more you collected the deeper silver they became, of course the poor spiders had to work harder to make new webs. Have you noticed the webs of gossamer that cover the grass at certain times of the year making it look as though you are walking in a field of silver silk?

One of my favourites is the green shield beetle also called the stink beetle, I’ll let you work out why.

There are hundreds of various creepy crawlies around us all the time so go out and explore for yourself. Look under stones and dead wood, pull the grass apart a little, look along tree trunks and under leaves or dig carefully in the soil and see what you can find.