We are about to release Jay's Bugs by Cheryl Lee Player, a book that circles around insects and bugs. We also had a look at some bugs that are vital for our existence!
Ten-year-old nature-lover Jay and her best friend Sophia, a nervous ballerina, want to enter a competition with a project on bugs and insects. Raiding cantankerous Mr. Mangel's place in search of more bugs for their collection proves to be an adventure when Mr. Mangel catches Jay in the act. The theft of one of their bugs upsets the two friends and the drama unravels with with interesting challenges and discoveries. Who was the thief? Can Jay's detective skills solve the mystery? A happy story of friendship between opposites, forgiveness and the kindness of strangers.
Bugs in general get a bad wrap - but not all insects are bad. There is such a thing as ‘Beneficial Insects’, which are bugs that help to control pests that damage our crops and gardens. They also stop the unnecessary use of pesticides which isn’t just awful for the environment, but also pretty bad for those who eat the food grown around it.
Bees
Everyone knows how important bees are, but not everyone knows exactly why? According to studies, if we were to pollinate all the plants bees do, it would cost over 200 million dollars and that’s just annually – and in the UK. Imagine the worldwide bill. Bees pollinate flowers, and without pollination plants just don’t grow, which means no food for us. That is why they’re so important. Side-note: their numbers are decreasing dramatically – try and plant bee friendly flowers and offer a tired bee a spoon of sugar water.
Ladybird
This cute bug is very important. Ladybirds eat aphids and greenflies – particularly when the ladybird is a grub. Aphids destroy crops and gardens, so ladybirds are very loved bugs as they control their numbers. You can encourage these bugs to come to your garden with small shelters that you can buy in gardens centres. Your garden will be blooming.
Hoverflies
They look like a smaller version of wasps, until you notice their hovering motion similar to dragonflies. Like bees, they also pollinate plants, the females also lay their eggs on aphid-heavy plants so their maggots can eat them when they hatch.
Ants
There are many things ants do to help? Ants aid in decomposition and can actually turn up more soil than worms. They did tunnels and with that they aerate the soil which recycles nutrients. This maintains healthy soil for plants – they particularly help coffee and chocolate production. Some ants eat nasty insects like bed bugs, fleas and flies. Some ants harvest seeds and transport them to their nest which is full of helpful nutrients, so they can grow safely.
Butterflies
Different to the other insects we’ve mentioned, butterflies have a specific way of forecasting the future of climate change – yes you heard us! The climate risk atlas of European Butterflies correlated climate change models with data about butterfly populations. The scientists were then able to bring forward answers about how global warmings rising temperatures would affect biodiversity.
