Minibeasts & Butterflies Discovery Sheet
If you look really carefully among the heather glades, under fallen leaves, and around flowering shrubs, there are hundreds of fascinating little creatures living on our Commons. How many can you tick off today?
Insects & Minibeasts
Watch for busy trails along sandy footpaths and dry tree roots.
Busy foraging among purple heather, clover, and blackberry blossoms.
Yellow and black stripes; important garden predators and pollinators.
Look for circular orb webs spun between bracken stems and gorse bushes.
Shaped like a medieval knight's shield; resting on sunny hazel leaves.
Found under damp autumn leaves and moist soil along wooded trails.
Basking on warm sandstone rocks around Wellington Rocks.
Looks like a wasp but harmless; hovers motionless in mid-air!
Fast-moving hunter with dozens of legs, hiding in dark rotting bark.
Butterflies
Large velvety red wings with dazzling purple-blue eye-spots to startle predators.
Velvety black wings with bright orange-red bands and white wingtip spots.
Orange and black pattern with a lovely row of blue crescent spots on wing edges.
Bright fiery copper-orange wings with dark spots; loves sunny heathland paths.
Bright butter-yellow wings shaped just like leaves when closed.
Ragged wing edges and a tiny white comma mark on the brown underside.
Bright silvery-blue wings fluttering high around holly and ivy bushes in spring.
Warm brown wings with an orange patch and black eye-spot; dances over summer grass.
Did you find a minibeast that isn't on this sheet?
Draw a picture of what you found below, or write down where you saw it!