Nature is wonderful, by Archie Kerr.

Now we are deep into Spring, lots of insects are awaking for us to find.

In Norfolk on Sunday I found a Green Hairstreak butterfly, they are so beautiful and they are hard to find because they are camoflaged against bushes. I also found it in a bush. 

Here is one photo in its habitat and one on my finger:

Look at the camoflage!

this one is on my finger!

Emperor moths
We all went to Thursley common to try to catch an Emperor moth using pheremone. Pheremone is a smell which certain species give off to attract a mate of the same species. Humans can't smell it or see it but the male Emperor moth can smell it from over a mile and a half away! That is amazing, right?!

 

look at the amazing pattern!

it has yellow antennae

On the wings it looks like it has eyes, this is to scare away any predators. The Peacock butterfly uses the same technique to scare away its predators. 

it has fake eyes on its wings as well

We have also been rearing insects lately, which means keeping and looking after them until they they hatch from the cocoon. My favourite moth we reared was the Angle Shades moth because it was the biggest.
Moths start as tiny eggs which hatch into caterpillars (larva). Caterpillars eat a lot until they are huge and ready to pupate, which means ready to turn into a cocoon, where they will eventually emerge as an adult moth. This process is called metamorphosis.

Here is a photo of the Angle Shades as a larva:

Here is a photo of the next stage in the process, the pupa:

The empty pupal case

Here comes the adult!

amazing isn't he?!

That is the process of rearing which leaves one more thing to do...

TO LET IT GO!!!!!!!!
:)

Thank you for reading my blog post.

     written by Archie