The Butterfly - Looking Forward To Summer

As we start to move into the summer months, the butterfly becomes a common visitor to our parks and gardens. Depending on the species of butterfly, certain plants and shrubs become a magnet for these beautiful insects to land and drink nectar from.

The life-cycle of a butterfly is truly remarkable. Starting as a tiny egg, this hatches into a long creepy-crawly caterpillar with sometimes bizarre hairy and brightly coloured skin. The next stage transforms it again into becoming a crusty dull chrysalis, almost suspended in animation. Finally after hatching, a beautiful delicate adult butterfly emerges bringing joy to many people who love to see them fluttering in the warm sun.

It is common belief that butterflies don't live very long. This of course depends on the species of butterfly as some can last a number of weeks, whilst others can last up to one year.

There are 58 species of butterfly in the UK, although a number are now threatened with extinction due to habitat loss. A general trend of decline in the butterfly population of about 70% in some species, indicates that our countryside and environment are not in good health. There are a number of wildlife parks where our native species and those from other parts of the world can be studied at close quarters. There are thought to be around 20,000 species of butterfly worldwide.

If you do want to get up close to butterflies, Animal Days Out would recommend the Tropical Butterfly House, Wildlife and Falconry Centre for starters. Home to many types of tropical butterflies, you can wander right amongst them and let them flutter by at close quarters within their specially designed habitat.



Butterfly Links
 Butterfly Conservation - Dedicated to Saving Butterflies and Moths
 British Butterflies - Check Out Steven Cheshire's Excellent Website
 The UK British Monitoring Scheme  - How Can You Get Involved?
 Understand the Best Planting Schemes to Attract Butterflies into Your Garden
 Visit The Tropical Butterfly House



Butterfly Gifts
 Buy a Butterfly House and Feeder
 Buy Other Butterfly Gifts

   Butterfly Fact File

Added by Animal Days Out

Made A Difference

Here is a short but sweet blog. The next time you think about squashing that spider, think of this.

A man was walking down the beach at sunset. As he walked along, he saw another man in the distance. He noticed this man kept leaning down, picking up something and throwing it out into the water, again and again. As he approached even closer, he noticed that the man was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach. He was throwing them back into the water, one by one. 

Puzzled, he approached the man and said, "Good evening. I was wondering what you are doing." The man replied, "I'm throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it's low tide and all these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don't throw them back into the ocean, they'll die up here from being out of the water for too long." 

Still puzzled the man said, "But, there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can't possibly get to all of them. And don't you realize this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can't you see that you can't possibly make a difference?" 

The man bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and threw it back into the ocean. With a smile he replied, "Made a difference to that one!!!"

Sent in by Jean Vass for Animal Days Out

Ladybird Ladybird, Don't Fly Away, I've Got Bugs On My Roses

With the first signs of spring they start to appear. The warmth stirs them out from their hiding places and these hungry little predators begin their work of hunting down their prey. Their prey are no match for this hunter and whole colonies can be devoured within hours. Without the ladybird we would surely be infested with aphids ruining our crops and plants. If the bee does an invaluable job pollinating, then the ladybird does an equally important job defending plants and crops.


There are 26 types of ladybird in the UK. The common myth children are taught is that the number of spots on a ladybirds back indicates it's age. In fact each number of spots indicates usually a different species. This is not always the case though. For example the ten-spot ladybird can have up to 15 spots on it's back. The eighteen-spot can have between 14 and 18 spots. It's even more difficult with the harlequin ladybird. There are over 100 different types and variations of spots, colours and size.

The harlequin in particular is considered invasive. It's not native to the UK and came from Asia originally. It was imported into the USA and Europe as a biological pest controller on farms. It's bigger and lives longer than our native ladybirds and is more efficient at large scale pest control. It soon made its way across the Channel and is now out-competing our own ladybirds for food. The harlequin larvae are bigger than our native species as well. Ladybird larvae have no problems with eating other ladybird larvae if aphid supplies are on the low side. The smaller native ladybird larvae are no match for the harlequin larvae.


Animal Days Out will be rearing our own ladybirds this summer and we will let you know how we get on.

Find Out More with the Ladybird Fact File

Written by GMP from Animal Days Out

Taking Care of Birds This Winter

We are still in the midst of yet another harsh cold winter. This is now the third consecutive winter with large snowfall, plummeting temperatures and regular frost and ice.

Everyone was talking about the impact on bird numbers after last year's hard winter, when a freezing spell of weather between January and February resulted in the fifth coldest winter in 100 years. The RSPB stated that the wren in particular struggled with breeding couples down 11 per cent. That's a loss of 700,000 pairs! With snow covering the ground where the wren likes to forage, food was difficult to find for one of our smallest garden visitors.

Which brings us back to this winter, when snow started falling as early as November and with at least 2 ½ months of potential baltic weather to come, what will the records show once the snow has finally finished falling and spring eventually arrives? How many more birds will suffer a drop in numbers?

Unlike other animals, birds don't hibernate. Some birds migrate away from the cold weather, whilst others from even colder climates migrate to the UK. Birds need to continue to feed to ensure that their energy levels remain strong. They will shortly need to re-double their efforts once they start to enter the breeding season where nests have to be built and young broods need to be looked after and fed.

Thankfully the awareness of the British public has been alerted to these issues and nowadays all sorts of bird feeders and seed mixes are available to buy at garden centres or online. People are also happy to encourage insects and other natural foods into their garden with plants and wild areas set aside to encourage wildlife. Birds are excellent pest controllers in the garden, devouring aphids, vine weevils, mosquitoes, midges and gnats. You don't have to spend lots of money on bird food either. Birds will happily eat household scraps of food, you would normally re-cycle or throw away. Its great to encourage birds into your garden! You never know, if you put up a nest box in your garden, they may even nest and lay eggs to provide a great spring show for you.

With so many different subjects about caring for birds during winter, we have put together a few links that should be of interest below -

Bird Links

 RSPB Advice - Feeding Household Scraps
 RSPB Advice - Building a Bird Table
 Ten Simple Steps to Help Birds In Your Garden
 The Dangers of Fat Balls!
 How To Build A Bird Table
 
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

 Take part in the RSPB's annual birdwatch event and help them keep track of bird populations in the UK. Watch your local garden or local park for an hour and record the highest number of each species seen at one time. The RSPB are particularly keen to find out the impact of last year's harsh winter on bird populations and whether there is a trend occuring year on year.

 Take part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch
 Identify Birds in Your Garden


Buy Bird Feeders
 
 Buy a Birdie Bistro Bird Feeder




Written by Animal Days Out