Today was a slightly later in the month than usual Wildlife Tots, and we headed to the woodland in search of all things bug. We began by colouring in some moths, trying to think about the colours we used so they blended in with their surroundings when outside. To help us with our camouflaging, we had some moths from the light trap for inspiration, including this stunning Merveille du Jour with its brilliant lichen-like markings and colouring:
Merveille du Jour, or ‘marvel of the day’
After camouflaging our moths, we headed outside to find a good spot close to the centre to hide them – would we find them all on our return?
Camouflaged moth hidden in the undergrowth
After playing bug follow my leader, scuttling like spiders, jumping like grasshoppers, buzzing like bees and walking all together like a centipede, we searched for our ugly bugs in the woodland, pairing them up so they could go to the ugly bug ball:
Some of our ugly bugs, paired up and ready to go to the bug ball!
It was then time to find some bugs of our own, so armed with bug pots and paintbrushes (to make sure we were super careful when putting them into our pots), we rummaged under logs and in amongst the leaf litter.
After showing each other our finds and carefully putting them back, we had a go at making some bug sculptures on the ground, using leaves, sticks, bark, grass and logs:
Finally it was time to head back to the centre to see if we could remember where we had hidden our moths, and if we could spot them after camouflaging them so well…luckily, we all could!
Sam proudly pointing to his hidden moth
Thank you everyone for a lovely afternoon in the woods!
Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve 