Since our last post I’ve been tiring myself out trying to tire the boys out. I more often than not go to bed soon after them now. I honestly started writing this on Thursday night!
For our John Muir Award we have been enjoying some final butterfly life cycle activities, whilst continuing to look after our Orange-tips!
Yes - they are still alive!
Last week we made masks and a butterfly mobile (which is surprisingly still intact hanging up in Jared’s room!) The masks were a great activity; Jared could do these independently (apart from the cutting out), which allowed me to amuse Levi at the same time. I admit I had lots to do for the mobile - but a good half hour was spent by Jared colouring and hole poking!
“ I coloured my butterfly pink and green and blue, yellow and red - it‘s a rainbow speckled wood!” - Jared
The mobile is a fantastic visual for emphasising the different stages of the cycle and how the numbers decrease from egg to butterfly. Jared keeps telling me Fred and Shaggy are at stage 2! So it really has had an effect on his understanding of it all.
You can find the print-outs and more here at the butterfly conservation family fun page. We also downloaded their butterfly board game to play; this was good for learning what the caterpillar needs to survive and furthermore the dangers it faces.
Now let me tell you how our Caterpillars are doing!
Fred and Shaggy must be more than 100% times bigger than they were when they hatched. They have also shed 3 times each and must be getting quite close now to pupation. Before they ate a seed pod or two over a day or so; now a whole cutting is being ravished at night - leaves and all! It is quite remarkable how much they get through - so they get two cuttings each at a time now.
Today I’ve put some sticks in their space so they have a place to pupate when the time comes. The pictures below show you their transformation over the last couple weeks.
7 Days - Just after a skin shed ( can you spot the skin in the right/bottom picture?)
Day 8 & 9 - It amazing how much they have changed just after a day - showing off their brighter skin with clear spots and stripes!
Day 13 & 14 - This was after yet another shed, they actually ate up their skin this time. Yuck!
They have got even darker on top and lighter on the bottom.
We have also spent a bit of time creating our pre-pledged patch for pollinators. Jared took ownership of the veranda ’garden’ which is now home to nasturtiums, alpine thyme , lemon thyme and lavender. These plants will attract butterflies and also the bees will love these too: they all smell delicious! I’ve still got a bit of repotting to do and I will also be putting out some mint once I’ve separated it from the our mojito stash!
A few days ago Granny gifted Jared a bug hotel so we spent a park walk collecting twigs, moss and leaf litter for it, we didn’t need to go far to find a pinecone though!
“ I’m putting my stickman in one of the flowerpots when it is ready!” - Jared
This will be going in his ‘garden’ and he will be making a stick man decoration with Daddy over the weekend. We will post up a picture of it all when it is finished . I’m quite tempted to share the pictures with Keep Scotland Beautiful’s Pop-Up Pocket Garden project. It’s a lovely project for children that is perfectly suited this year for during the lockdown. You should have a look if you or anyone you know might be interested.
Thanks to everyone who is still following our blog! During our next visit to Castlemilk Park we are going to explore the Giant Sequoia tree planted by William Gilchrist in the 1860s. A tree that John Muir adored and native to California; they are one of the World’s largest growing trees - and can live up to 3000 years old!
Comments