Scientists from the Meteorological Office use radar data to track approaching storms and changing weather patterns.   The radar works by sending out pulses of microwaves, these bounce off rain drops and other particles in the air.  The time that it takes for this signal to return, plus its intensity gives information about the approaching weather.

Early radar [during the Second World War] also picked the movement of ‘angels’. These ‘angels’ were later recognised as the movement of birds, bats and insects.  Scientists then had to develop techniques to remove this ‘biological scatter / material’, so that they could accurately predict storms etc. By removing this ‘biological component’ of the signal, a lot of biological information about the movement of birds, bats and insects was being ‘discarded’.  

Now, scientists from the University of Leeds have ‘repurposed’ the radar data (from many radar stations, which scan the skies many times each day & night) but this time they remove the data relating to the weather.  This leaves information about the insects moving at a height of some 500 / 700 metres above the ground. 

The results showed that some 11.2 trillion insects are moving during the day, and that this reduces to some five trillion at night.   Some of these insects are actively flying, but some are being carried by the wind  / thermals.  Furthermore, there were more insects above areas such as woodlands, grasslands and even urban areas.  However, the numbers were lower over intensively farmed areas, where plant biodiversity was reduced as compared to woodland or natural grassland.  The numbers were also lower where artificial lighting was high.  

Other work by the CEH, Newcastle University and Butterfly Conservation, has involved surveys of grassland and hedgerows in southern England (Thames Valley) some of which were lit by streetlamp, others were unlit. The areas that were exposed to night time lights had roughly half the number of caterpillars as compared to the unlit areas.  

In another study, LED lighting was set up in fields, and caterpillars' numbers in these illuminated fields were reduced.  The lighting may :-

Cinnabar moth caterpillar.

• Deter nocturnal moths from egg laying.
• Make the night flying moths ‘easier targets’ for predators (such as bats).
• Affect the feeding habits of moth caterpillars.

Whilst it would seem that night time light affects insects and the feeding behaviour of caterpillars,  quite how and why is yet to be determined.

Last week's woodlands’ blog talked about the fall in insect numbers across the UK.  This is not just a UK problem, it is far more widespread.  Insects,  bees and bumblebees as pollinators aside,  are important in ecosystems;  there are armies of other insects that are providing ‘services’ for us.

When a tree dies in a woodland, bacteria and fungi are important agents in the decay of the tree and the recycling of elements, but they are assisted by beetles. If the dead tree was a veteran, during its lifetime it will have provided  a variety of micro-habitats.  Holes and crevices would have been used by bats,  birds,  insects etc.  Now, the the decaying wood will be support different organisms, from microbes to larger fungi, such as bracket fungi that can erupt from surface of the dead tree.   As the wood decays, 

• the material may become a ‘home’ for saproxylic beetles. For example, Stag beetle larvae feed on decaying wood (building up fat reserves, which the adults later rely on.
• it adds humus and fertility to the soil as its nutrients are released.

Though bees and bumblebees (members of the order Hymenoptera) are important as pollinators (of many fruit and crop plants, so are the hoverflies key to  the pollination of many wild flowers.  Hoverflies belong to a different group of insects - the Diptera. There are several thousand hoverfly species spread across the world. They are found on every continent with the exception of Antarctica.  Work by Dr. Wotton and his team at Exeter University suggests they are situations where hoverflies may be more effective pollinators than bees and bumblebees, and the role of hoverflies in crop pollination may have been under-estimated. 

Hoverflies can carry pollen over considerable distances, and may  visit isolated plants.  The common drone fly (Eristalis tenax) has been known to travel some 100km and carry the pollen of eight plant species.  Hoverflies (or Syrphidae) are also known to migrate over considerable distances.  The female marmalade hoverfly can migrate from Scandinavia to Spain and North Africa, migrating in the autumn to lay their eggs.  In the following Spring, succeeding generations migrate north again.  Some American hoverflies are known to migrate from Canada to the southern states.

Insects are not just important in terms of facilitating decay or aiding pollination, some are involved in seed dispersal.  Scientists at Kobe University studied the dispersal of seeds from the fruit of the silver dragon plant.  Using  time lapse photography techniques, they watched to see which animals feed on the plant’s fruit at night. Whilst crickets (order : Orthoptera) ate much of the fruit, earwigs (order : Dermaptera) and woodlice (not insects, but terrestrial crustaceans) also consumed significant amounts of the tiny seeds of the fruit.  Further work demonstrated that many of the seeds survived the passage through the gut of these animals.  So apart from being seed predators, small invertebrates may also help their dispersal, depositing them away from the parent plant. Woodlice are interesting land based crustaceans that generally feed on dead and decaying plant material, helping in the recycling of nutrients.

Further examples of the importance of insects in nature can be seen in fig production.  The fig wasp 'gives its life' in the process of pollinating the fig, in return the fig provides a safe ‘nursery’ for the young on the wasp, seed the woodland blog on the fig.  There are many types of fig and each has its own wasp, to ensure successful pollination.  Full details of the life cycle of fig wasps can be followed here.  The association between the wasps and figs is an example of mutualism. This co-dependence probably had its origin some seventy million years ago, and the wasps and figs have co-evolved since then.

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The woodlands blog has previously reported on the worrying decline in insect numbers, but there has been yet another report detailing significant falls in the populations of (flying) insects.  This survey was run by Buglife and the Kent Wildlife Trust  (KWT) using a smart phone app - “Bugs Matter”.

The survey suggest that between 2004 and 2021 the number of flying insects (in Kent) has fallen by some 70%.  This finding is not dissimilar to that carried out in rural Denmark which found an 80% decline in insect numbers between 1997 and 2017.

Insects are vital to the functioning of ecosystems.  They help maintain:

• A healthy environment
• Contribute to the recycling of organic matter
• Act as pollinating agents
• Help control pests

Without insects the ‘web of life’ begins to fall apart.  The loss of insects and other forms of wildlife can be helped by:

• Creating larger areas of natural habitats (many have been lost to roads, agriculture, urban expansion)
• Creating wildlife corridors to link up similiar habitats / ecosystems throughout the landscape
• Creating wild flower ‘meadows’ by road sides, verges etc
• Reducing the use of pesticides and other chemicals which have significant effects on wildlife

The Buglife survey makes use of a simple technique to estimate insect abundance - the ‘splatometer’.  This involves counting the number of ‘squashed’ insects on car registration plates.  The Danish survey used a similar method but looked at insects found on car windscreens.   This summer Buglife is hoping that people will again contribute to another survey using the splatometer technique.  The survey will run from June 1^st to August 31^st.  

To contribute to the survey you will need :-

• The “Bugs matter” app (free) and a smart phone.
• To create an account to send in your results
• Clean the car number plate before the start of any journey in your vehicle
• At the end of your journey, count the number of squashed insects on the number plate (using the splatometer grid - which will be sent to you) and take a photo.

This enables Buglife to calculate the ‘splat rate’, that is the number of insects recorded per mile. 

NB.  Journeys on wet days are not recorded as rain might wash off any insects from the number plate.   The more journeys and counts that you can carry out the better, and zero counts of squashed insects are just as important as those with an actual number of squashed insects.

Note : The app includes a tutorial and some safety advice. It is available for android or apple phones.

The vibrancy and gaudiness of sunflowers is one of the delights of summer.  The common name "sunflower" generally refers to Helianthus annuus, whose round flower heads look like the sun.  Sunflowers are cultivated as food crops for humans, cattle, and poultry, and also for the garden. They typically grow during the summer and into early autumn, with the peak growth season being mid-summer. A field of sunflowers is a welcome relief from the acres of oilseed rape.

The flower of a sunflower is not a flower but hundreds of small flowers (florets) massed together the better to attract pollinators.  The structure so formed is known as a capitulum.  The inner florets are arranged in spirals that conform to fibonacci sequences.  The pattern of these florets has been described mathematically by Helmut Vogel and it allows for the most efficient ‘packing’ of the florets in the ‘flower’ head.

Before the flowers open,  the plants tilt during to face the sun, gaining more light for photosynthesis. This movement is known as heliotropism  and continues for a while when the flower head opens. This may help to attract pollinators. 

Frequent visitors to sunflowers are bumblebees.  Sadly, like honey bees, bumblebees face a number of problems which include parasites.  However, recent research in the United States suggests sunflowers can help certain species of bumblebee.  If sunflower pollen is included in the diet of the common eastern bumblebee then it helps reduce infection by a parasitic protozoan Crithidia bombi.  This is a parasite that lives in the gut of bumblebees. When they pass out of the gut in cysts, they can be ‘picked up’ by the next passing bumblebee (or another insect, as the parasite is not too fussy). Once established in a bee, the parasite can affect the ovaries.  If a  queen is infected then the reproductive success of the colony is affected. Giacomini et al. have found that good nutrition is vital for bumblebee health and that sunflower pollen can be a huge benefit when it is included in the diet. They noted that the majority of the bees that consumed sunflower pollen had no detectable infection a week later. The pollen* significantly reduced infection by the parasite.

So sunflowers are a visual feast for us, and an edible one for bumblebees and bees.  They also provide us with seeds.  The seeds are rich in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, notably linoleic acid. The seeds also contain phytosterols which may contribute toward lowering the level of blood cholesterol.  The seeds may be pressed releasing sunflower oil, and the remaining ‘cake’ can be used as a protein rich animal feed.  The Ukraine and Russia are the top producers of sunflower seed.

A somewhat different use of sunflowers is phytoremediation; using plants to remove toxic organic or inorganic compounds from soil.  After the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear reactors in 1986, an exclusion zone with a radius of 30 km centred on the nuclear power plant was created. This was later expanded to include other heavily irradiated areas.  Even now, no one lives in the exclusion zone, but scientists and others may ask for permits to allow them to enter for short periods.  Fields of sunflowers were planted to ‘harvest‘ the radioactive metals (notably caesium-137 and strontium-90) from the soil. The sunflowers accumulated these elements in their tissues.  When the sunflowers had completed their growth, they were harvested and burnt, leaving only the radioactive ash behind. This material could then be vitrified (incorporated into glass) and stored underground in a shielded container.

In Brazil, a study looked at the ability of different sunflower cultivars to remove nickel, copper and lead from contaminated soil.  Though phytoremediation with sunflowers proved to be an efficient and low-cost method for the treatment of contaminated soils, the cultivars varied in their ability to take up particular metals.

“Cleaning up’ with sunflowers was tried after a tsunami hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in Japan.  However, it was not very successful.   As different cultivars vary in their capacity to hyperaccumulate, so it is important to match the cultivar to the situation. Planting sunflowers in this case did little to improve the situation. This could be in part due to the sunflowers but also be associated with the soil type and the time that the caesium has had to bind to the soil particles. Understanding the mechanisms and detail of hyper accumulation is critical if sunflowers are to be used for phytoremediation in the future.

Pollen is rich in secondary plant metabolites e.g. flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, amines, and chlorogenic acids

field of sunflowers

The woodlands blog has reported on the anthropocene - how human activity is creating a geological era characterised by human impact on the Earth.  Now a report finds that human-made (artificial) material will this year surpass the sum total of all living material (biomass) on earth.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-3010-5

A Swedish study has shown that crop yield can be enhanced  by ensuring that woodland and grassland areas are present in the vicinity of crop fields.    If the landscape is more diverse in terms of plants and habitats, then the number of pollinators (bees snd bumblebees) is greater.  

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167880920303753?via%3Dihub

A paper published by the Royal Society indicates that mammals and vertebrates in general get much more funding for conservation measures than invertebrates.  Despite the extinction rate of insects being significantly higher than that of birds and mammals, their funding is minuscule in comparison. Whilst much has been written about the insect apocalypse and the importance of insects in ecosystems, it would seem that smaller organisms are losing out.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/09/sexy-beasts-animals-with-charisma-get-lions-share-of-eu-conservation-funds-aoe

The redwoods and sequoias are magnificent trees and characteristic of the western seaboard of the United States.  However, the wild fires that have burned in California this year have destroyed  many of the oldest and largest trees. Many were hundreds of years old so they have survived fires in the past, but with global warming and the accumulation of dead material in the undergrowth - they fell to the intensity of the fires this year.   The link below shows the areas affected and the scenes of devastation.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/09/climate/redwood-sequoia-tree-fire.html

A new variety of apple has been found in Wiltshire.  It seems that it might be a cross between a cultivated variety and the ‘wild’ crab apple.  When apple trees are grown from seed, they are different from each other and from their parents - due to the rearrangement of genetic material in the chromosomes.   Most apple trees are created by grafting a cutting onto an existing root stock - they are therefore essentially clones.  This new apple has a rather pale yellow and mottled appearance. The tree, which might be a hundred years old was found by Mr Archie Thomas, growing in a hedgerow (near some ancient woodland).

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/nov/28/new-variety-of-apple-discovered-by-wiltshire-runner

]]> https://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/flora-and-fauna/pollution-and-pollinators/ https://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/flora-and-fauna/pollution-and-pollinators/#comments Fri, 18 Sep 2020 08:24:12 +0000 https://www.woodlands.co.uk/?p=33955

Plants and animals provide us with many important ecosystem services.   One critical ecosystem service is pollination; this is mainly done by insects - such as bees, bumblebees, moths and hoverflies. Insects are often attracted to flowers by scent, when volatile oils are released that act as chemical signals to ‘tell’ insects about their presence in the environment. This signalling is the result of a relationship between flowers and insects that has evolved over millions of years.  However, in relatively recent times, we (as a species) have been responsible for many changes to the Earth and its atmosphere.  Many gases and materials have been released into the air which have ‘mixed’ with the wide variety of natural scents and smells that are used for plant and animal communication.

One such pollutant at low levels is ozone. Higher up in the atmosphere, the ozone layer prevents too much damaging UV light from reaching the Earth's surface.  However, at ground level, the oxidizing potential of ozone can cause damage to respiratory tissues in animals.   Recent research has shown that ozone can also affect the scents that plants release to attract bees and other insects.  Working with Black Mustard (Brassica nigra) and Buff-tailed bumblebees, researchers were able to show that ozone significantly reduced the effectiveness of scent produced by their flowers.  The make-up of the scent was changed and the amount of scent fell - so that bumblebees  and other insects were less likely to find the flowers. 

Other scientists (at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, and the University of Virginia, USA) have used jasmine tobacco (Nicotiana alata) in experiments.  This is pollinated by the nocturnal tobacco hawkmoth, which is attracted by the fragrance that the flowers release at dusk.  The researchers showed that the moths lost their attraction to the scent of the flowers when that scent had been altered by ozone, but, by using visual cues to lead them to flowers, they could ‘learn’ that these altered scents could lead them to nectar.  Not all pollinators may be able to adapt in this way, so many more field studies will be needed to understand which flowers and which insects are affected by which pollutants.  

Air pollution may be affecting animal interactions in other ways.  Many animals release pheromones; these are chemicals released from the body of one individual that can change the behaviour of receiving individuals.  For example, female insects release pheromones to attract males; these are effective over long distances. Pollutants have the potential to cause changes in the chemical make-up of pheromones that could lead to a failure of mating.  Air-borne pheromones are also ‘used’ to communicate alarm, territory and paths to food sources. There have been dramatic falls in insect numbers in recent years and scientists are searching for the causes of what has been termed the ‘insect armageddon or the ‘insect apocalypse’.

Each of our team members looks after a number of woodland sites across the UK, and recently we were contacted regarding one of our latest additions to the Woodlands.co.uk portfolio, Coed Craig-y-Pandy, aka Pandy Wood, near Llangollen in North Wales, by someone known locally as Nicky ‘the bird lady’.  Apparently this site has been part of a long term scheme of monitoring nesting birds and nest boxes, and we were being asked permission for this to continue.

Myself (Chris) and local area manager Jon went to meet Nicky one afternoon to find out more of what she does and how it benefits our local birdlife.  We were given a tour of the nest boxes in the woodland – most of which were empty as the young birds had already fledged -  but we were treated to a look inside a couple of boxes where the chicks were still being fed.  Nicky explained that the birds we were looking at were close to fledging themselves, and that she would be back to check the boxes again to see what happened. Below are some photos of the baby birds we saw.

Nicky also showed us that she had ringed the birds in the nests, and explained that in future should these birds be found again we would know how long they had lived for and where they had come from by using the unique number on the ring to identify them. This is a way of monitoring bird populations, and as many species have suffered significant declines in recent years it is important to know what is happening to our wildlife, and how they are affected by habitat losses, pollution, changes to farming practices and climate for example.

Below Nicky explains in her own words what she does and what has been happening in the woodland this year:

"My name is Nicky, though I am known to the locals as ‘the bird lady’, and I am a registered nest recorder and licensed bird ringer with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).  I first started visiting the valley of Glyn Ceiriog in 2001 with a chap called Andy, who back then was of course known as ‘the bird man’, and I took over monitoring the area in 2005.  There were only two nest boxes in Pandy wood at first, but I have since increased the number to over 40.  In total I have around 150 boxes or more that I monitor in the valley, but I also spend a large amount of time looking at other, non-nest box using bird species as well.

The main species of interest in the nest boxes is the pied flycatcher, which is a small, migratory songbird that over winters in sub-Saharan Africa.  This year there have been five pairs using the boxes in Pandy wood, which is quite a good number considering that valley-wide their numbers are down (and only 17 pairs in total using my boxes), and between them they have hatched 32 chicks which should all have fledged by mid June.  There were also four blue tit and four great tit nests in the boxes in Pandy wood.  The blue tits have been having a good year, after recent bad years, and have raised 26 chicks in Pandy wood, but the great tits are down in number this year after having several boom years, and have only managed 14 chicks as two of their nests failed.

On my visits I monitor the nests as they progress so determine how successful they are.  I record information on

• nest building stages,
• egg laying and incubation,
• the development of the chicks, and
• the outcome of the nest.

All of this information is recorded on nest record cards (which used to actually be cards, but now they are mostly digital) and sent off to the BTO at the end of the season, who use it for population monitoring.  I take note of any natural nests I find as well as nest boxes, so I spend a lot of time in the valley looking for nests, or going to places that have nests every year (e.g. dippers on the river, jackdaws, swallows and house sparrows in farm buildings).  I have not noticed any natural nests in Pandy wood this year, although I did hear a male wood warbler (another uncommon, migratory songbird) singing, indicating he may have had a nest nearby.

As I am also a licensed bird ringer, when the chicks are big enough I add a metal ring to their legs with a unique number on it.  If the bird is caught again or found dead, a record is generated of how long it lived and where it travelled to after it fledged.  All the ringing data is also submitted to the BTO.

I also trap the adult pied flycatchers, and I have had some very interesting finds from doing so.  This year I trapped a male bird that I have caught every single year (though at a different nest box each time) since he was ringed as a chick in 2013.  Another year, I had a female originally from Northumberland.  I caught her several years in a row, until one particularly cold, wet spring when I found her dead on her nest.  I have had a female from the valley breed the following year in Cornwall, and one year I had a male bird attending two separate boxes - one in Pandy wood, the other over 600m away in fields by the river.  This happened again another year more recently, but the two boxes were much closer together.

Pied Flycatcher - about 10 days old

All of my observations and data is sent initially to Merseyside Ringing Group (MRG), who then sends all of our group’s data to the BTO.  Despite its name our group actually covers quite a large area, including Wirral, Cheshire and North Wales."

More information on Merseyside Ringing Group, and the BTO’s nest recording and ringing schemes, can be found at the following links:

• https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/nrs
• https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/ringing
• http://www.merseysiderg.org.uk/

"At the end of the season the nest boxes are cleaned out for next year, and any boxes that need repairing or replacing are done so over the winter.  As it has been over 10 years since many of the nest boxes were installed in Pandy wood, I anticipate a busy winter this year making more boxes!"

Pied Flycatcher young in the nest box

The migration of animals can have a massive impact on ecosystems  - think of the migration of the enormous herds of caribou across the Alaskan plain.    Each caribou may eat 3 kg of vegetation a day.   With them come predators and parasites, and their waste (urine and faeces) contribute to nutrient and energy inputs to the ecosystem(s).     An understanding of the migration of large animals & birds and ecosystem processes is well established, but the effects of large scale insect movements or bioflows have not been intensively studied (with the possible exception of locust swarms).  

However, recently research workers have studied the movement of high flying insects over the southern counties of the U.K.     Using specialised radar techniques, they looked at the night-time movement of larger insects flying at heights between 150 and 1200 metres (above the ground).

Their work suggests that some 3.5 trillion insects move above the region each year - this approximates to 3200 tons of biomass.   Broadly speaking, the research indicates a movement of insects northwards in the Spring and southwards in the autumn months.     As the bodies of insects contain serious amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus (in the form of proteins and nucleic acids), this movement can represent a significant flow of nutrients between  different ecosystems.

However, these insects would not be directly involved in what has been termed the windscreen phenomenon.   That is - there are far fewer squashed insects on one's car windscreen than there used to be some 40 years ago ; (even allowing for the more streamlined / aerodynamic shape of screen and car nowadays).     Casual observations like this suggest that insect populations are in decline.

This possibility has received support from research work recently published from Germany - where a team has focused on the numbers of flying insects in nature reserves .    Insects were caught (in malaise traps) and weighed in some 57 nature reserves spread across Germany.     The study has run for some 27 years and yielded a cornucopia of data; which has been analysed by researchers from Nijmegen, Germany and England.

Over the period of the study, there has been an average decline of some 76% in the total mass of insects caught. In the middle of summer, when insect numbers ‘peak’,  the decline has been even more severe (at over 80%).

Caspar Hallmann (Radboud University) [who undertook the statistical analyses] said     "All these areas are protected and most of them are managed nature reserves.   Yet, this dramatic decline has occurred. “      

The causes of the decline are not clear.   Changes in weather, landscape and vegetation are not thought to explain the decline. Though weather can explain some of the year-on-year fluctuations, it does not explain the overall and rapid downward trend.  The reserves are surrounded by agricultural land and it has been suggested that the insects cannot survive in such farmland as 

• it offers little in the way of food (be it wild flowers or other insects) or 
• The insects are affected by exposure to agrochemicals (pesticides and herbicides) or
• a combination of both these things

Insects are vital as pollinators and also form part of the food web - acting as food for amphibians, small mammals, birds etc.  So it is not perhaps surprising that we have witnessed declines in

• bird populations
• Amphibians
• Hedgehogs and water voles
• Wild flowers

Indeed, across the U.K. the situation is quite serious - the 2016 State of Nature Report commented that the UK was “among the most nature depleted countries in the world”

Flowers are the means by which plants attract pollinators.   Pollinations leads to fertilisation and fertilisation leads on to seed formation and the propagation of the species.   For plants, like sunflowers, the pollinators are insects - so the plant displays something bold and eye catching for them.   However, the brilliant yellow and orange colours that we see are not what an insect sees or is attracted by.   Insect eyes (compound eyes) see the world very differently - one key difference is that unlike us, insects can see ultra-violet light.   Sunflowers (and many other plants) take advantage of this fact by incorporating UV absorbing pigments in their structure; so what we see as a ring of colour with a darker centre is for insects a more complex set of of rings.

The flower of a sunflower is, in fact,  made up of hundreds of tiny flowers - the florets.    Those on the outside - the ray florets often have large petal-like structures but they do not have have any reproductive organs. The florets towards the centre have stamens and ovaries, and their petals are fused into a small tube-like structure.   It is the inner florets that need insect visitors for pollination.   The UV patterning of the entire head of florets is not dissimilar to a darts board - with concentric circles - inviting insect visitors in.   The difference between what we see and that seen by an insect is shown here.

Sunflowers make an impact (on us and their insect pollinators) through sheer size and the colours that they reflect, but the humble buttercup is not without a claim to fame.   Its small but bright yellow flowers are quite special.   The petals have a characteristic sheen that adds to the intensity and vibrancy of the yellow flower.

The cells of the top surface of the petals - the epidermis, are filled with yellow pigment.   This pigment reflects the yellow wavelengths of sunlight but allows other wavelengths of light to pass through.    Below the very smooth and regular cells of the epidermis sits a layer of cells filled with starch grains.   Between the epidermal cells and the 'starch filled cells' there are numerous but small air spaces - creating effectively a thin layer of air.    This "air layer” and the epidermis work together,  creating a "film” (bit like oil on water) that is a strong reflector of light.

Light which passes through into the starch-filled cells is bounced around and some will pass out through the pigment layer - contributing to the deep, saturated yellow colour, and the characteristic shine of the buttercup petals.   So marked is this intense mirror-like yellow shine of the petals that it has given rise to the children's 'game' of holding a buttercup under the chin: the yellow reflection onto the chin is said to mean that the person likes butter.

Hi, I’m Imogen and I am a big nature and woodland fan. In this blog, I will be showing you how I got a Blue Peter green badge, and also how you can get one.

In my point of view, us kids should be bonding with nature in the world around us. By having a go and applying for a Green Badge * encourages us to be outside.   Furthermore, it helps us learn that nature is not just something beautiful but also shows how birds live, flowers grow and much more about bugs, trees that we didn’t even know about. By having a Green Badge, you can show everyone how much you care about nature and you could persuade others to try.  Just helping nature to grow stronger by providing more shelter for animals and bugs is giving us beauty in our woodlands and gardens.

I personally really enjoyed helping because it gave me the opportunity to be with nature. I did this by creating and putting up a bird box to help shelter the birds and provide them warmth in cold weather. I put some bird feed out to help the birds keep well fed and healthy over the winter. In a small wildlife pond that hosts frogs and newts among others, I cleared some weeds to allow light and oxygen to enter the pond.

I then sent a letter and some photos of how I encouraged nature within a local woodland to tell Blue Peter how I respect and care for the birds in the trees and the creatures in our pond.

Now your children can get a green badge by being creative in your woodland or garden.

How to apply?

• Here is a link to the Blue Peter apply for Green Badge:  www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/findoutmore/apply-for-a-blue-peter-badge
• Show how you have worked in your garden or woodland; also add some pictures.

What you get if successful? 

If successful you get…

• A Green Badge
• Free entry to over 200 Blue Peter Badge Attractions around the country

Here’s a link to see all the attractions:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/attractions

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/joinin/about-blue-peter-badges

Written by Imogen : 10 years old, who loves nature and woodlands.

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