Some of the creative and interactive workshops I have been running in the past month or so have revolved around the theme of ‘bug homes’ or ‘bug hotels’. Alongside the organisation Green Routes, near Aberfoyle, we made a couple of huge bug hotels to go in their wildlife bog garden, as well as some recycled ladybird/lacewing homes.
Making large bug homes requires thought; What sort of bugs are likely to come? What habitats do they like? How can we create a diversity of habitats? How will the hotels be maintained and parts changed if needed? The group that we worked with put loads of effort in to thinking through these ideas and some of the fruits of their labour can be seen in the pictures below.
The value of ladybird/lacewing homes is particularly important to gardeners who are hoping to protect their edible crops from aphid attack (as ladybirds and lacewings eat aphids). Bearing this in mind, the Green Routes group made some homes for these gardeners’ friends and were able to have some real fun drawing creative designs to make them very pretty for the garden.
Alongside these interactive and fun workshops, October also saw the completion of the practical part of creating the wildflower meadow at Toryglen. You can read more about that here.
As the weather continues to cool, I’m looking forward to Halloween bug fun, and the promise of the stunning Scottish winter landscape.
