Bug hotels are a wonderful addition to any garden, park, or outdoor space! They provide a home for insects and in return the insects will increase biodiversity, pollinate plants, and prey on pests.
We're passionate about outdoor learning and helping children reconnect with nature. On June 19 we’ll be supporting Empty Classroom Day, which aims to encourage schools across the UK to celebrate outdoor learning by spending one lesson outside the classroom.
We'll be providing selected local schools with their very own bug hotels so the children can experience a hands-on approach to learning outdoors.
Are you a Yorkshire school looking to get involved?
Contact us and we'll see how we can help!
With natural habitats under increasing pressure and many already lost or damaged here’s your chance to give nature a helping hand by creating a home where it can thrive.
Nature presents an endless number of places where bugs and insects can shelter. Holes in dead wood, spaces in between rocks, and piles of fallen leaves all provide the perfect home where small creatures can escape from predators and bad weather.
The key is to try and recreate a habitat, which closely resembles what you’d find in the wild. Try to create as many small spaces as possible using different materials that the insects will come across in the wild. It’s also worth remembering that some insects prefer damp spaces where others prefer dry so your hotel needs to offer both.
This is often the home of choice for centipedes and woodlice who take refuge in the crevices under the bark. Dead wood supports many different types of fungi and is an essential material for the larvae of wood boring beetles, such as the stag beetle.
Hollow tubesThese can be created with old bamboo canes or hollow plant stems, which are then placed inside plastic drainpipes. By using different sizes canes or stems you can cater for different species.
Provides many opportunities for invertebrates to burrow down into and find a safe, dry place to hibernate.
Loose barkThe ideal place for beetles, centipedes, spiders, and woodlice who all love being beneath the decaying wood and bark.
The leaves replicate the woodland floor and provide a home for invertebrates.
Corrugated cardboardWhen placed inside a waterproof cylinder this can be used to create a home for lacewing and their larvae, which consume large amounts of aphids and other garden pests.
The word 'bug' is often used to refer to any very small insect, which has legs. A true bug belongs to the order of insects known as Hemiptera, which comprise around 50,000–80,000 species and are characterised as having tough forewings and a mouthpart known as a stylet, which is designed to suck juices from plants.
Insects belong to the class known as Insecta and are characterised has having three body parts, three pairs of legs, and usually two pairs of wings. They are the largest group of all living things, containing more than a million identified species, compared with 240,000 flowering plants and 4,500 mammals. They can be found in all habitats, except the deep sea and the Polar Regions.
Bugs and insects eat a huge range of foods. About half of them are plant eaters who feed on leaves, roots, seeds, nectar, or wood. Praying mantises are predators who hut other smaller creatures whereas fleas and lice are parasites that eat the flesh or blood of larger animals without killing them.
They have an amazing ability to adapt to and to survive in virtually any environment. There’s almost nowhere on land where they cannot live and almost nothing they cannot eat, which means they can thrive in even the toughest of environments.
Many rely on camouflage to blend into their natural surroundings and to remain out of sight of predators while others are armed with stinger or poisons.
6% of the Earth’s surface is covered by tropical rainforests and around 80% of all insect species live there. It is estimated that there are still 9 million species of insects and spiders yet to be discovered
To survive the cold of winter months many insects replace their body water with a chemical called glycerol, which acts as an antifreeze against the temperatures
Insects have been present on Earth for about 350 million years whereas humans have only been around for 130,000 years
At least two thirds of all living species on the Earth are spiders and insects
It is estimated that there are 1.5 billion insects for every person on Earth
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