~ Dr. Albert Schweitzer
all our forests, all our soil, all our water resources,
and our minerals into cash?"
- Ding Darling, American cartoonist/conservationist.
There are 10 million insects in the world and they all need somewhere to live, so if you want to be kind to the Planet you can start in your own environment in your back garden or on a balcony.
This is a great way to get involved with nature.
You can create an insect home called a Bug Hotel. Very soon after opening its doors, you will find it a place where many of the insects found in Norfolk will come to stay.
You will need:
Handful of bamboo sticks, reeds or straws
Length of string
To make the hotel:
Gather the bamboo, reeds or straws together.
Wrap the string around the middle to tie them all together,
but leave a length of it hanging.
with an adults help, use the length of string to hang the
Bug Hotel in your favoured outdoor location.
Once you've hung the Bug Hotel, it shouldn't be long
until your first visitors check-in.
Just sit back and enjoy watching the variety of insects
that arrives and observe how they live and eat.
You might get things like ladybirds or flowering bees and it's likely you may also get birds such as house martins, or mice, shrews and hedgehogs.
Without insects all these creatures would starve.
Bats eat 3000 bugs every night.
Tip: If you use bamboo different sized holes you will
attract different insects in each one.
Materials Needed
oatmeal box or other round cardboard container (with lid)
paints or markers
fine mesh screen
craft knife (be sure to ask an adult to help you cut)
Use Paints or Markers to decorate your container.
Get an adult to make a couple of cuts for a window and also a door at the bottom of the container. If you want shutters, make an H shape cut. (Don't forget to paint the shutters and door)
Roll the screen to fit the inside of the container, making sure the edges overlap where they meet. The screen is necessary to prevent the occupants of the house from escaping.
Place some grass in the bottom (not too much)
to make your guests feel at home.
Your guests will need food to eat. Aphids are the best thing you can feed your Lady Bugs. If you can't find any aphids, they will eat sweet plants such as sweet alyssums. They will eat each other if you don't feed them. Gently spray the grass with water every few days. They need a drink now and then and they like it a little humid. When you tire of them, set them free. They are good bugs, and you want them in your yard or garden. As with all living things, be kind to them.
http://www.backyardwildlifehabitat.info/index.htm
To Bugs
