Close up on mini beasts n°173 p.30

Take a look around you. There are mini beasts every  where!
You will find some on flowers in the garden ...

Common blue butterfly

Rose chafer beetles have a shiny, hard, green shell with a hint of gold.

Clouded yellow butterfly

Humminbird hawk-moth

Red admiral butterfly

Marmalade hoverflies look like wasps.
But they are flies and do not sting.


peacock butterfly
Bumblebee

Large bee fly

Cabbage white butterfly


Look in the  grass for creatures that jump... and more !

Strpe-winged   grasshopper


Red-winged grasshopper

Great green bush cricket

European garden spiders
do not hunt.
Theywait for insects to get  caught in their !

There are also mini beasts with ....lots of legs!

Brown centipedes hunt insects that live on the ground.

Pill millipedes
roll up into a ball
to into a ball to
protect themselves.

Common pill woodlice
can rool up just like
pill millepedes.


More  surprises on tree trunks...

Common cicada
Dock bug

Prying mantises
look scary.
Their large frontlegs unfold
like springs to catch other
creatures.


Male stag beetles have what look like
huge antlers or horns. These are actually
 theirjaws! They use them
to fight other males.

At night some creatures sleep
but other Wake up...


Female glow worms light up!
They have no wings but they make light to attract
the males of their species.


Pine chafer beetles
spend the day
clinging to day
clinging to tree
trunks . At night,
they fly off.



Craneflies are
sometimes called
Daddy longlegs.


Dust spider


Common green
lacewings
feed on nectar and
pollen made
by flowers.

On warm summer nights you may
hear field crickets chirping.


When pine processionary moths are still caterpillars,
they move through the forests in long lines, nose-to-tail.


peppered moth

white plume moth

great brocade moth

Many moths are the same colour as tree bark. So it is  difficult
to see them once they have landed on a branch.