One square meter

[JonnyP]

My local nature reserve's Wardens arranged a thank you dinner and talk for the volunteers who work there. We had a lovely dinner and the talk after was by a guy called Patrick Roper who is an entomologist. He spoke about this project he has been doing in his garden, recording all the species he can find in an area of just one square meter. He marked off the area, put in a fall trap (sunken jam jar under a rock), a pond (sunken jam jar filled with water) and a few logs and rocks. He recorded 675 different species in one season and still has lots to identify. I was amazed at how many things could be found in such a small area.
I think I am going to try it for myself in my garden.................Jon

 

[mark a.]

Wonderful! I like that idea a lot.

I'll shortly be moving house (if all goes well), and I plan to make the front garden more of a "nature reserve" - good for the beasties, and good fun for us too.

 

[Beer Monster]

Yes it truly is amazing. Have you ever tried a Berlese funnel? Really good fun and a real eye opener, kids love it.

Basically you make a funnel out of an large plastic coke bottle or similar and fill it with leaf litter/soil place it over a collecting jar which has been blacked out (just wrap some card around it). You then place a table lamp over the top and as the soil heats up and dries out all the bugs etc move down and fall out the bottom of the funnel. You can then have a good look at them (with a hand lens). I found my first pseudoscorpion with this method when I was a kid ........ I was absolutely enchanted.

 

[JonnyP]

Yes it truly is amazing. Have you ever tried a Berlese funnel? Really good fun and a real eye opener, kids love it.

Basically you make a funnel out of an large plastic coke bottle or similar and fill it with leaf litter/soil place it over a collecting jar which has been blacked out (just wrap some card around it). You then place a table lamp over the top and as the soil heats up and dries out all the bugs etc move down and fall out the bottom of the funnel. You can then have a good look at them (with a hand lens). I found my first pseudoscorpion with this method when I was a kid ........ I was absolutely enchanted.

Sounds interesting Beer Monster..........Do you have any links or photo's of one. The kids and me love bug hunting, I have not heard of a Berlese funnel b4 ...............Jon

 

[Razorstrop]

I remember doing sometihng vaguely like that in biology in school, we made square metre grids and counted all the things we found in them. Great fun.

Mr Strop

 

[Beer Monster]

Sounds interesting Beer Monster..........Do you have any links or photo's of one. The kids and me love bug hunting, I have not heard of a Berlese funnel b4 ...............Jon

Here you go mate. Here is a simple one like the one that I used to make. Here is another.

And here is a fancy one but its a better picture. If you type it into google I think you'll get quite a few hits but there seems to be only slight variation in design.

Only thing I would add to the links is that you should just use and empty collecting jar (or one with some damp paper in the bottom) ...... some of the links above seem to aimed at killing the insects for study as they are captured . Also wrap the bottom collecting jar in black paper so once captured the insects are kept in the shade and won't dry out and die. Also use a low wattage of bulb and keep it about 10cm above the leaf litter.

Let us know how it goes.

During the summer you could also try laying a white sheet under a tree branch and then giving the branch a good shake or hit it with a stick. You can then see what beetles, spiders and caterpillars fall out. Found that method when I read “The Amateur Naturalist” book (by Gerald Durrell) when I was at school, its worth buying if you see it in the shops (I think they have just re-released it as the "New Amateur Naturalist " at the start of the title)

 

[Toddy]

I'm going to use this idea next summer with the kids outdoors. Thanks for all of the information.
I loved Gerald Durrell's books, "My family and other animals", was a bellyaching laugh. His brother opening up the matchbox full of baby scorpions still has me laughing Good memories

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[JonnyP]

Here you go mate. Here is a simple one like the one that I used to make. Here is another.

And here is a fancy one but its a better picture. If you type it into google I think you'll get quite a few hits but there seems to be only slight variation in design.

Only thing I would add to the links is that you should just use and empty collecting jar (or one with some damp paper in the bottom) ...... some of the links above seem to aimed at killing the insects for study as they are captured . Also wrap the bottom collecting jar in black paper so once captured the insects are kept in the shade and won't dry out and die. Also use a low wattage of bulb and keep it about 10cm above the leaf litter.

Let us know how it goes.

During the summer you could also try laying a white sheet under a tree branch and then giving the branch a good shake or hit it with a stick. You can then see what beetles, spiders and caterpillars fall out. Found that method when I read “The Amateur Naturalist” book (by Gerald Durrell) when I was at school, its worth buying if you see it in the shops (I think they have just re-released it as the "New Amateur Naturalist " at the start of the title)

Thanks for the info Beer Monster, I shall give it a bash and when I do I will take some pics and let you know how it went..................Jon