The Natural Talent team just can’t resist the opportunity to show the public how crazy we are about invertebrates! This time the Natural Talent mystery machine travelled to Aviemore in the Cairngorms to take part in the Celebrating Nature Event, hosted by the Cairngorms National Park authority. As part of the International Year of Forests, this event was designed to teach the public about woodland biodiversity, the resources woodlands provide us with, and of course the wildlife that live in our fantastic Scottish forests. Our job was to excite, eductate and enthrall as many people as possible with the amazing world of woodland creepy crawlies and hopefully inspire the next generation of conservationists!
Two team members spent the previous day collecting as many specimens as possible, and we had quite a lot of exciting beasties; dor beetles, green tiger beetles, moths, hoverflies, spiders, harvestman, millipedes, woodlice, you name it, we caught it and put it on display! We had a perpex display box filled with flying critters and spiders to build webs in and then a selection of trays filled with leaf litter and an assortment invertebrates for children to dig around for. Gwen was on hand to show children the minibeast key so that they could identify the creatures they found in the trays.
Children that passed the stall were invited to play a simple pairs game that required matching the minibeast to its home in the woodland. Even John McFarlane had a turn, and everyone who matched all the pairs got a fluffy bumblebee and a Buglife Scottish Invertebrates poster to take home.
On hand we also had microscopes with lichens and flowers to look at, plus a range of books and guides and I think just about everyone who visited our stall got to hold one of the lovely dor beetles, they made excellent beetle ambassadors and the children loved them. Pete Moore from RSPB Insh Marshes stopped by and donated some moths to the cause, including a gorgeous poplar hawkmoth, which went down very well with the children.
Everyone worked very hard and I was so proud to be part of the BTCV team that day, several visitors noted how interesting they found our stall and how much their children enjoyed the displays. The weather was also very kind to us, and it only started to rain in the last 30 minutes of the event so we couldn’t complain!
Looking forward to the next event, thank you so much everyone who helped out on the day (and thanks John for the grub!), I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!
Hayley
Caledonian Pinewood Invertebrates
