Butterflies

Butterflies are one of the prettiest of insects that can be found in the garden. When I was little I remember seeing so many different kinds of butterflies all over the summer drinking nectar on my mum's buddleia. Butterflies are suffering though, from modern farming techniques, and the use of more and more non-flowering shrubs and 'display' (too ornate for butterflies to feed from) flowers in public and private gardens. The recent bad weather has also not helped our native species either. One of the best ways to support all the species of butterflies is to plant all kinds of nectar rich flowers which they feed on. You can find details of all kinds of flowers at the Butterfly Conservation website, but here is a short list. Flowers that are good for butterflies in spring are bluebells, cuckooflower, dandilion, garlic mustard, pansy, primrose, sweet rocket, sweet william, wallflowers, violas. Flowers for the summer and early autumn are buddleia, chives, chrysthanemum, common bird's-foot trefoil, cornflower, forget-me-not, French marigold, globe thistle, honeysuckle, hyssop, lavender, lilac, marjoram, mint, valerian, thyme.

Identify a Butterfly
Seen a butterfly and not sure what kind it is? Identify it by looking at the Butterfly Conservation Identifier. You can also register your butterfly until August 5th in the Big Butterfly Count which aims to record the health of Britain's butterflies, and has been taking place every summer since 2010. Log your butterfly here.

Ladybirds

Hand Knitted Ladybird Finger Puppet
We have a selection of hand knitted minibeast finger puppets which encourage children to enjoy the garden and get outdoors. This post contains lots of information about ladybirds, and the puppet comes with details for building a ladybird sanctuary in the garden. Puppets cost £2.90 each, £5 for 2 and £11.50 for all 5; to order and to find out more please click here.


Across the whole planet there are many different kinds of ladybirds, about 5,000 different kinds in fact. They come in all sorts of colours, sizes and also vary in the number of spots they have. Their favourite food are little green aphids which often eat and damage the plants and flowers in the garden, so ladybirds are really useful!
QUESTION. About how many green aphids can a ladybird eat in their lifetime?
a) 500
b) 5,000
c) 50,000
Go to the bottom of the post to find out.  

Most of you will have seen ladybirds and know what they look like, but they don't start out looking like that. They don't look like the ladybird here either, a little girl has dressed up as a ladybird. You could try dressing up as a ladybird too. Ask a grown-up for some red fabric or an old piece of red clothing and they can help you paint some black dots on it. You could also cut out a large piece of card and paint it in the design you want, then push holes into it and use string to tie it to your back. Don't forget, you can try other coloured ladybirds; how about yellow with black spots or black with red spots?


Ladybird Life Cycle


In spring an adult ladybird will lay its tiny yellow eggs in a safe place, like underneath a leaf. 

It only takes a week for the eggs to hatch, and out comes the ladybird larvae. They are very hungry and like to eat green aphids as well.

The larva will attach itself to a leaf and make a pupa around itself to protect it while it turns into a....

LADYBIRD!!

It takes about a month for the ladybird to go through the life cycle from egg to adult. When the winter comes the fully grown ladybird will hibernate till the next year.







ANSWER: b) 5,000

How many spots?

I have been sent these pictures of unusual ladybirds found in Holly's garden in Kings Heath. She found them eating aphids in the raspberry patch. Thank you very much, and if anyone else would like to send me some photo's of bugs they've found or how their plants are growing I would love to see them.

To find out more about ladybirds, click the label at the bottom of this post.

Hand Knitted Finger Puppets

Juicy Jess
Snails may be a bit of an annoyance to gardener's, but they fascinate alot of children. They slide along the ground on what is one muscular foot and leave a trail to follow. Jess comes with a snail racing game.
£2.90 each.

Nectar Norma
Bees are so important in pollinating all the flowering plants and helping us to grow our fruit and vegetables. Most bees in this country are solitary bees, and Norma comes with information for building a bee habitat. £2.90 each.

Scarlet Charlotte 
The ladybird finger puppet comes with information for building a ladybird sanctuary in your garden, which gives ladybirds somewhere to hibernate over the winter. You can also find lots more activities here. £2.90 each.

Flirty Gerty
We will be adding lots of information about how to attract different kinds of butterflies to your garden, and what to plant for the caterpillars to eat. Gert comes with a butterfly imaginarium. £2.90 each.

Sidney Spider
Spiders spin beautiful webs which they use to catch their food. There are not insects but are arachnids which is why they have eight legs, not six like all insects. Sidney comes with his own spelling game. £2.90 each.








Buy two puppets for £5, please state your two chosen puppets as you order.

Buy all five minibeast puppets for £11.50, your puppets will come with two information sheets, place state which two you would like.

Our hand knitted finger puppets are supplied by Little Fingy who give to Cancer Research UK and environmental improvement schemes in the Britain. The puppets are knitted in Peru, and Little Fingy support the communities that produce them.