A Butterfly Garden R O V E S FA R M Ex s r e plor BUTTERFLIES ARE POLLINATORS Hang a mushed up banana or over ripe fruit on a colourful paper plate to feed and encourage butterflies to your garden! WHY IS POLLINATION IMPORTANT? It is an important part of the LIFE CYCLE of flowering plants & crops! Flowering plants & crops are the basis of the food chain for most animals, including humans. Without pollinators like butterflies, plants & crops may struggle to grow & produce the food we eat and the plants & crops that feed the animals we eat. BUTTERFLY HABITATS NEED... Sunshine Butterfly food Wild flowers such as thistle, scabious, red valerian, bramble & ragwort. Garden flowers such as lavendar & buddleia.They also like rotting fruits, dung & tree sap. (butterfly food) (butterfly food) Dung Bright attracting colours Nectar (butterfly food) Scabious (butterfly food) Nettles Different species & of caterpillar butterfly feed & lay their eggs on different plants. Caterpillar host plants include... wild strawberry, nettle, birds foot trefoil, ivy, scabious & ragwort. Tree sap Shelter Rotting fruits include... plants Larval foodplants- Birds Foot Trefoil & White Clover Nectar Plants- Birds Foot Trefoil, Thistle, Knapweed, & White Ragwort Clover. Larval Foodplants Alder & Buckthorn Nectar Plants include Thistle, Larval Foodplants- Nettles & Hops Nectar plants- Bramble, Ivy & Teasel Not all butterflies feed just on flowers. Some such as Red Admiral, are also attracted to tree sap and sugary rotting fruit like plums. Bluebell, Cowslip, Dandelion, Scabious & Red Campion. Stones & bare ground for basking in the sun Larval FoodplantsNettle & Hop Larval Foodplants Cock’s-foot, Nectar plants include- Thistle, & Common Couch Bluebell, Cuckooflower, Nectar Plants- Sap, Honeydew, Dandelion, & Yarrow. Scabious Bramble, Cuckooflower, Dandelion & Ragwort. Larval FoodplantNettles plants Nectar Bramble, Thistle, Dandelion, Scabious, Ivy, Knapweed & Thyme. Caterpillar host plants (plants that will feed the caterpillar until it is fully grown) Birds Foot Trefoil Rough grasses & nettles for laying eggs Caterpillars to Butterflies A R O V E S FA R M E s r e r o l p x St a The egg hatches into a tiny larva (caterpillar) The caterpillar eats and eats, grows and grows. The skin of caterpillar doesn’t grow or stretch. Caterpillars need to ‘molt’ their skin several times to be able to grow to full size. Egg LIFE CYCLE rt The egg is laid in Spring on the back of a leaf. Each species of caterpillar likes only particular plants, and the butterfly must lay its eggs on the leaf of a plant that the caterpillar will eat. When it has grown to its full size it attaches itself to a twig or leaf, and forms itself into a pupa, with a hard outer shell surrounding them pupa (also called a chrysalis). h s i n Fi A fully grown adult butterfly will emerge from the chrysalis. Inside the pupa the caterpillar is changing. This change is called metamorphosis. Larva Caterpillar Butterflies can not eat. They get their ‘food’ by drinking through straw like spirals called proboscis, which curl up under their chin. Butterflies only live for a short time. They will fly, mate and reproduce (lay more eggs). Pupa Adult Butterfly Pollinators R O V E S FA R M Ex s r e r o l p support food production and the diversity of our environment ? O H W TRANSFER POLLEN Flowers & fruit blossom need help to from the anther to the stigma part of the plant, so that the egg cells in the flower head can be fertilized ready to develop . BUTTERFLIES & MOTHS SEEDS & FRUIT Although some plants, such as apples, potatoes and oil seed rape rely on MINIBEAST POLLINATION, other staple crops that we eat can be WIND- or SELF-POLLINATED. HOVERFLIES & OTHER FLIES WHY IS POLLINATION IMPORTANT? It is an important part of the LIFE CYCLE of flowering plants & crops! Flowering plants are the basis of the FOOD CHAIN for most animals, HONEYBEES & SOLITARY BEES BUMBLEBEES including humans. WASPS BEETLES ? E R E H W ANTHER (male) produces pollen STIGMA (female) waiting for the transfer of pollen from an anther OVULE when pollen has been ? W HO BRIGHT COLOURS & SUGARY SMELLS of nectar attract minibeasts. transferred to the stigma, an egg cell in the ovule will be fertilized and will develop seeds. These seeds will grow into a plant the following year. Wildflowers, crops & garden flowers all provide (nectar) for pollinators. FOOD While the pollinators feed on the nectar in the flower, from the flowers stick to them, to be carried to the next flower. POLLEN ANTHER When the minibeast visits the next flower the pollen is rubbed off onto STIGMA the of the new flower whilst the pollinator is feeding. POLLINATIONof the stigma allows FERTILIZATIONof the EGG cells to take place. The plant will develop SEEDS, that will grow into FRUITS or mature, fall and grow into new plant.ts. R O V E S FA R M Ex s r e r o l p Slimy Slugs & Snails Having a shell means that you are a snail, not having one means that you are a slug! Slugs od e go r a s l i a n &s S R E L C Y matter REC c i n a g r o ying a c ood e f d s t u s o e i r g t i into nu They d k c a b t i cle s. and recy for plant uits, r f , s r e s, flow e v a e l t ts. o o They ea r & i fung is one l i a n S arden G l a c i p Your ty these... il a den Sn r a G n aspersa Brow x i l e H name: c fi i t n e Sci of . . . M E H FINeDltereTd, shady, mso,ist land in sh d o o w n i ns & places e d r a g ws, hedgero e walls ston night. t a r o , in after ra der plant pots g un n i k o o l nes. Try o t s & logs ore m e r a s l *Snai tone s e m i l n on commo alk soils, and ch ave a which h ontent. mc u i c l a c heir t high s p e e k Calcium strong! shells S R O T A D E R P ther o , e c i m , s etle kes. a include be n s , s d a o ds, t snails, bir ome s m o r f l i a ct a sn e t o r p l l ged i a w fl u o m a A shell c eping e k t u b , s r m of r o f t s predato e b s are it t h g i s f o t ou defence. deners r a g & s lugs & Farmer s e k i l always t o n o e they d s u a c e snails b crops & r eat thei s. plant They lay clutches of eggs in damp soil. 1. LIFE 2. CYCLE All slugs and snails are both male and 3. female! They still need to mate with another before they produce eggs. A snails shell is its home & protection. Slugs have a leathery patch where a snails shell sits called a ‘mantle’. OPTIC TENTACLES SENSORY TENTACLES used for feeding and can see light and dark, small eyes on the end of tasting the tentacles 4. Snail and slug eggs are very vulnerable to predators, however, those that survive will hatch into miniature versions of their parents. The tiny snails feed on dead organic matter, leaves and fruits, to grow bigger and bigger, until they reach adulthood. After it has first hatched a snails shell is very delicate. The snail needs to eat calcium rich food to harden its shell as quickly as possible to ward off predators* FOOT SLIME PNUEMOSTOME can become very sticky to defend one long muscle, which moves the breathing hole by waves of tightening and against predators. Mucus glands under the foot produce the slime. relaxing Wiggly Worms R O V E S FA R M Ex s r e r o l p AIR FLOW WATER CHANNELS channels created created by worms by worms Earthworms have lots of PREDATORS! Birds, Moles, Toads, Ants & Snails all eat earthworms. Worm POO -small, dark brown, granular ‘casting’ piles left on your lawn by worms! Plants worms! Worms LIVE in damp soil & under stones or dead wood. They BREATHE through their moist skin. Worm POO is rich nutrients, naturally fertilizing the soil, and helping plants to grow. Worms EAT dead organic (plant) matter. Worms eat dead organic (plant) matter, BURROW Worms through the soil creating channels for air and water to circulate. DECOMPOSITION speeding up , recycling old plant materials and passing nutrient FERTILISE rich matter to naturally the soil. SOIL GOOD FOR GROWING CROPS & PLANTS Plant roots need air for respiration, water & nutrients for healthy growth and to produce the fruits, flowers and seeds that we can eat and enjoy.
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