Let your curiosity take flight!

Do you think it’d be cool to have wings … to take off from the ground and soar high up into the sky? Are you curious about what it’d feel like, and what you’d see if you were flying around your neighbourhood … an aerial view of your school playground, the roof of your home, a church spire, a mosque dome, the tops of the trees? What birds or insects have you spotted flying around recently? Follow one through the air with your eyes and see where it lands. To celebrate Sir David Attenborough’s 🎉 100^th Birthday 🎉 we’re challenging Young Climate Warriors to wear his ‘curiosity cap’ this week … ignite your inquisitiveness about the insects flying around you.

With your ‘curiosity cap’ on … what insects can you spot fluttering, humming, buzzing, hovering, flitting? Curiosity is about exploring and understanding the world around you. Where did that insect land … don’t get too close, don’t touch it or make it feel threatened, and please act responsibly and with the agreement of your parent/carer. Take a look … what is it? ‘Bee’ curious … is it a butterfly or moth, a wasp or a bee, a fly, a hoverfly or even a daddy long-legs? Check out this simple identification site to find out what sort of flying invertebrate you’ve found. Did this insect ignite your inquisitiveness - why do you think it chose to land there? Was it for food, water, shelter, due to an attractive smell, a warm spot, or was it hunting for a place to lay its eggs? Are you curious about where your flying insect might live? In old brickwork, drainpipes, deadwood, soil, a manure pile, in the ground, in holes in branches and bark?

Have you spotted any bees? Some bees are named after the colour of their tail - it could have been a ‘white-tailed’, ‘red-tailed’, ‘buff-tailed’ bee.  Did you know that Sir David Attenborough has over 50 species of animals and plants named after him … including Acisoma attenboroughi (a blue-black dragonfly), Euptychia attenboroughi (a black-eyed butterfly), and Attenborougharion rubicundus (a bright red-green snail)!

Insects are struggling with less wild spaces, our increased use of chemicals, and because climate change is meaning more droughts and more stormy weather. Would you like to give our insects a hand, by providing them with more opportunities to eat, drink and shelter? If you have some outside space … can you make some ‘mini meadows’ - flower pots for your balcony or doorstep? Grow rosemary, thyme, oregano or mint, insects love their flowers, and you can also use them in your cooking! Can you make a drinking ‘puddling station’, a saucer of water with a couple of stones in? If you have a garden can you leave some of the ‘weeds’ – buttercups, daisies, clover … our native wildflowers provide a delicious meal for our insects. 

Curious about if or how insects communicate? Watch this short video to learn more about how bees talk to each other and their ‘waggle dance’.

Let us know which flying insects you've spotted this week and how your curiosity has been sparked — and if you take photos, draw pictures or write a poem, send them to Kate at hello@youngclimatewarriors.org and we'll pass them on to Sir David Attenborough!