National Insect Week at RAMM

National Insect Week (21–27 June 2010)

This week (21-27 June 2010) is National Insect Week!

Each summer the Royal Entomological Society organises a host of activities to celebrate these fantastic creatures. RAMM would also like you to get involved by sharing your insect photos with us.

Take a close look at the next insect you come across. You don’t have to travel to foreign countries to find some truly magnificent and amazing insects. You may need to go no further than your garden wall.

Even the most mundane insects can be fascinating close-up. For example, flies may seem to be nothing more than black nuisances when they buzz haphazardly around our homes. However, some blowflies have bodies that are metallic blue and green in colour. Others have tufts of bristles or dense hair over their bodies. However, the first thing you may notice if take a good look at a fly is the size of its eyes! Flies have enormous compound eyes that are made up of many individual units allowing them to sense movement around them (possible predators) very quickly.

Flies have enormous eyes and are often covered in little hairs Fly covered in pollen

Get involved – fan photos

RAMM is inviting you all to celebrate National Insect Week with us by posting your insect photos on our Facebook page. Take a trip to the local park or pond, or just into your own garden and see how many insects you can find. Even if you are not an expert photographer with fancy camera equipment, we’d be really interested to see your photos.

This rose chafer (Cetonia aurata) was found flying clumsily in this year’s May sunshine around a car park in Lyme Regis on the Devon-Dorset border. The rose chafer is native to the UK, but it is very similar to other species found in continental Europe and in Africa. You don’t have to venture abroad to find some stunning insects!

Kids: prefer pencil and paper to photography?

If you'd rather make a model, draw or paint a picture or make a collage, then add a photograph of your insect-related creation to the gallery in our Young RAMM area - we'd love to see what you have made!

To get you started have a look this selection of photos taken in Devon by Dave Bolton, RAMM’s senior curator of natural history.