Kentish Snail

Grey, gloomy and with a surprisingly chill northerly wind - hardly the ideal weather for the annual Bug Hunt at King's Dyke Nature reserve. Nevertheless, there was a good turnout of families, with a hoard of excited children heading off into the quarry wielding sweep nets, tubes and boxes. 

Despite their enthusiasm it was difficult to find many insects - butterflies and dragonflies were almost non-existent, presumably roosting in sheltered corners out of the breeze, and even beetles and bugs were very thin on the ground. But there were a lot of snails, mostly Brown-lipped Snails but with a scattering of Kentish Snails, which made some of the children very happy. Luckily aquatic insects aren't affected by the weather, so the pond dipping produced plenty of interest with the fascination of caddis flies larvae, dragonfly nymphs and a range of water beetles, as well as many sticklebacks which always cause excitement.

Even though it was quite hard work, everyone seemed to have a good time and most children caught at least a few interesting insects. Mind you, I always think the parents have as much fun on these days as the children - particularly the Dads who re-capture some of the excitement of their own childhood discoveries.