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LOVE BUGS AT KELLING HEATH 
We love bugs at Kelling Heath and we want YOU to LOVE BUGS TOO!
 Some people (mostly grown-ups) don’t like bugs. Some adults are even scared of bugs! Some people call insects ‘creepy crawlies’, even though they are not ‘creepy’ at all! I have even heard of people squashing bugs or killing them with nasty chemicals! Bugs are extremely important to the environment; they help pollinate plants, they decompose leaves and wood back into soil and are a source of food for many creatures.
Join me this summer to hunt for the bugs that have made their homes at Kelling Heath. We will get a really close look at the bugs you find using magnifying equipment and we’ll imagine what it’s like to be so small. We will discover why bugs are so important to the environment and maybe then, we can try to persuade others to love bugs too!
Here are just a few reasons why we all LOVE BUGS at Kelling Heath:
· Insects are food for many of the birds that live in or visit Kelling Heath. The more insects that live here, the more birds that will live here too and sing for us at dawn.
· We love midges and moths because they provide food for the Nightjar, a rare bird that lives on the heathland and is only seen after sunset. This summer you can join a local bird expert on a guided walk to hear the Nighjars making their ‘churring’ call.
· Bats also feed on midges and moths. Come on a guided bat walk at dusk to see them catching midges over the pond and moths in mid-flight. We use special bat detectors to hear them too!
· If you look hard enough you may see the beautiful Silver-studded Blue butterfly on the heathland. This rare butterfly would not stay on the heath without a certain species of black ant which looks after the chrysalis in its nest. So we have to love the black ant too!
· Certain insects like woodlice, worms, slugs and millipedes are very important because they help get rid of animal droppings, dead animals, leaf litter and fallen branches in the woodland. They break down nature’s waste into even smaller pieces that, with the help of fungi and bacteria will turn back into soil.
· Ladybirds and lacewings are loved by all gardeners because they eat aphids and green fly which can destroy young buds and fruit.
If you love bugs, let us know! Do you have a favourite? We are running a LOVE BUGS competition and it’s not too late to enter. Follow the link to find out more.
Enter our LOVE BUGS competition | 
