Description
Session Details
Welcome to Bug Club! Join our experienced animal handlers to come up close to a different species each week, they will have the chance to learn about their care, lifecycles and handle them. Each child will get their own bug club book which they can add to week on week and learn basic animal care skills. They will also learn about animals they can find wild in the UK and go hunting for them in the beautiful grounds of High Elms County Park!
Bug Club runs 13:30-14:30 every week and you can pick and choose as you like which sessions you would like to attend.
Children must be accompanied by an adult throughout the session. You only need to for the amount of children attending the session, (maximum of two adults per child ticket).
Book on early to avoid disappointment maximum of 15 participants to keep our sessions personal.
Bug Club is suitable for ages 5+ this age limit is due to the writing and patience to sit still and quiet during handling sessions. We understand each child is different and if you feel your child is younger but will enjoy these sessions safely by sitting still and quietly you can bring them along.
All children must be accompanied by an adult
Sessions & Animals Covered, we may have to alter weeks dependent on weather and staff availability;
Due to popularity we have kept bug club running all year round.
10th of January; Introduction week: Meet the team and learn the basics for caring for animals, we will also walk around the site and look at some of the areas we will be focusing on including the pond, forest school and meadow.
17th of January; Enclosure design; Learn how we have to change and adapt a habitat for a chosen animal of your choice! From snails, cockroaches, millipedes and stick insects, have a go at building your own and place the animals inside to see how they react to their new home.
24th of January; Microhabitats; After building habitats for the big bugs its time to create your own mini houses for some of our smaller residents that are essential to maintaining our woodlands, meadows and planet earth! Like our springtails and woodlice, get the chance to create you’re own which you can take home with you!
31st of January; Cockroach Week: Meet over three different cockroach species and learn the importance of them to our planet and how they get the reputation for being indestructible!
7th of February; Crab Week: Meet our vampire and hermit crabs! Learn how we provide both fresh and salt water to meet decorate some shells for our growing hermit crabs!
14th of February; Millipede and Centipede week; Time to meet the big tanks of the clean up crews in the woodlands, meet our giant african millipedes, chocolate millipedes and the small bumble bee millipedes! Get a close up look at Thanos and learn how we tell the difference between a millipede and centipede.
21st of February; Beetle Week; Beetles similar to butterflies go through important different stages before emerging as adults in the woods! Learn their different life cycles and meet our Big beetles like our Sun Beetles and the amazing Blue Death Beetles!
28th of February Stick Insect Week; Learn how different stick insects eat different food items and meet over four different stick insect species! Create some leaf rubbings and a ID sheet to use for identifying plants in the future!
7th of March; Snail/slug Week: Meet our Giant African Land Snails adult and babies, also the chance to meet the pancake slugs. Understand why they are super slimey and the importance of managing their breeding.
14th of March; Underwater species! We are going to head down to our pond to find what beautiful bugs live underwater and how some can change and grow to fly over the top of the pond! It will also be a good time to look for some tadpoles!
21st of March; Manits Week; Come up close with one of the the most fearsome carnivores in the arthropod world! Meet the big and small mantises and have a chance to feed them!
28th of March; Cricket/Katydid Week: Meet Cinderella and Prince Charming our two Giant Thorny Crickets and one of our Giant Hooded Katydids! Listen to their fantastically loud calls and see them show of their impressive jaws, which our the strongest in the animal kingdom compared to their body size.
4th of April; Scorpion Week; Time to meet the armoured and UV light up creatures of the arachnid group! Meeting Green Goblin and Captain Marvel our Giant Asian Scorpions.
11th of April; Spider Week; Have a close look at one of the most misunderstood and wonderful animals in the world! Get a close look at our wandering spiders and the adorable jumping spiders. We will also head into our meadow to hunt for some wild arachnids *no handling of the tropical animals this week
18th of April; Tadpole week; Down to the pond to see how many tadpoles we can find and their predators
25th of April; Nest Week; One of the biggest predators to butterflies and moths and insects is birds, we will be checking our nest boxes, counting the eggs and seeing how many nests our built!
2nd of May; Bee week; Looking at our lovely flowers and the different types of bees found within them.
9th of May; Ant Week: Starting our ant colony or harvester ants, learn about their care and set up and watch week on week how their colony grows.
16th of May; Moth Week one; We will be setting two moth traps up around site, we will then open the trap to see what beautiful bugs have emerged, including intruders like the may beetle.
23rd of May; Caterpillar Week; Saving best till last! Meet our beautiful tarantulas the last of our tropical team and get to learn their wonderful behaviours like their happy dances!
30th of May; BIOBLITZ DAY
6th of June; Stick insect week 2: Learn about the stick insects and what their favourite browse is, from the hazel and oak to hawthorn and rose. Have a go at leaf rubbing
13th of June; OFF
20th of June; Predator Week; The national centre for reptile welfare be coming down to show off some of the bugs biggest predators like lizards and snakes!
27th of June; Moth week! Join us as we open the moth trap and have a look inside to see what beauties of the night we have found and any other intruders that we might encounter!
4th of July; Grasshopper Week: Sweep netting through our meadow looking for the different type of beautiful grasshoppers
11th of July; Glow Worm/ stag beetle Week: Heading off to orchid bank on the hunt for glow worm and stag beetle larvae and adults under the large log piles and rocks and stones off the bank.
18th of July; Butterfly Week: As the big butterfly count kicks off we will be joining the counts to see the beautiful butterflies in action and go for a long walk around our park looking for the beautiful butterflies.
25th of July; Moth Week 2:
1st of August;
8th of August; Dragonfly and Damselfly; Going down on our pond in search of natures most successful predators! The dragonflies and damselflies, looking for the adults and dipping to find their nymphs in the search for the biggest species like the hawkers and chasers!
15th of August;
22nd of August;
29th of August; Summer Fair; Join us for the summer fair, no need to book just turn up and enjoy, bug hunting and pond dipping will be going on througout the day and a range of other activities.
5th of September; Triop week 1 : We will be setting up our triops giving them the perfect conditions, starting very small and laying the eggs down into the water
12th of September; Den Building
19th of September; Build a bug hotel: Our ranger ross will be in to help you build your own bug hotels to take home with you as bugs prepare to hibernate and find somewhere safe to sleep.
26th of September; Leaf piles! Leaf piles are essential for bugs to be succesful in their hibernation through to winter. Therefore we are going to build some super sized piles and fill our compost heaps to keep them all nice and toasty.
3rd of October; Triop week 2; Seeing them grow in size we will be upgrading them to a slightly larger tank and see how they react to their new environment and their favourites food. We will also be meeting our other crustaceans on site, including our hermit crabs and vampire crabs.
10th of October; Cockroach week: Meet over three different cockroach species and learn the importance of them to our planet and how they get the reputation for being indestructible!
17th of October; Millipede and Centipede week; Time to meet the big tanks of the clean up crews in the woodlands, meet our giant african millipedes, chocolate millipedes and the small bumble bee millipedes! Get a close up look at Thanos and learn how we tell the difference between a millipede and centipede
24th of October; Snail/slug Week: Meet our Giant African Land Snails adult and babies, also the chance to meet the pancake slugs. Understand why they are super slimey and the importance of managing their breeding.
31st of October; Tarantula Week; Saving best till last! Meet our beautiful tarantulas the last of our tropical team and get to learn their wonderful behaviours like their happy dances!
7th of November; Triop week 3; Watching the development of the triops upgrading them to the large tank for their last life stage.
14th of November; Manits Week; Come up close with one of the the most fearsome carnivores in the arthropod world! Meet the big and small mantises and have a chance to feed them!
21st of November; Stick Insect Week; Learn how different stick insects eat different food items and meet over four different stick insect species! Create some leaf rubbings and a ID sheet to use for identifying plants in the future!
28th of November; Fungi Walk: Join our ranger Ross for a guided fungi walk and learn about some of the most important micro-organsism of the forest
5th of December; Final week; Campfire and marshmallows and looking upon all our weeks and deciding our favourites.
12th of December; Triop week 4 + Christmas Fair (reptiles and Christmas fair activities, no need to book just turn up and enjoy the fair)
Directions, Parking and Transport
Bug Club is at BEECHE visitor centre (next to Green Roof cafe), we are open throughout the day on Saturday, you are welcome to arrive early and we have activities like colouring in and puzzles whilst you wait. Each ticket provides you free access to the bug section so you can look around at the bugs you will meet whilst you wait.
High Elms country Park, Shire Lane, Farnborough BR6 7JH
What to Wear
The session will be based inside our Darwin Classroom and outside so please think ahead for the weather!
