Phew!! Read on to find out about these wriggly creatures, their weird webs, and crazy adult moths!

We’ve seen these webs in two different counties

1. on our coastal walks in North Devon and
2. in Shropshire hedgerows

but they actually belong to two distinct species of caterpillar. Lets take a quick look at each one separately.

THE LACKEY CATERPILLAR & MOTH – NORTH DEVON COASTS

The Lackey moth & caterpillar is common in the southern England, especially near the coast, it is frequently found on blackthorn and hawthorn hedges. They can be seen sitting in their web if they have been left undisturbed, like the ones we photographed near Westward Ho!.

They grow to about 5cm and have blue, orange & white striped, hairy bodies. Their long hairs protect against predators and they will retreat into their web when in danger. From April to June, the caterpillars munch their way through the shrubs, spinning a silk web as they grow. When fully grown, they find a suitable place low to the ground hidden amongst plants to spin a cocoon and pupate. The adult moths emerge within a month, by July.

The moths are 2-3cm wide and are not as attractive as the caterpillars, being beige to brown in colour, with a furry body and large feathery antennae. To see the adult moths click here. The Lackey moth lays its eggs in neat rows on the stems of their favourite shrubs in late summer, you can see these on the right hand branch in the photos below.

The adult moths are strongly attracted to light and often fly indoors at night crashing straight into lightbulbs, and zoom around haphazardly, bumping into everything!

THE ERMINE CATERPILLAR & MOTH – SHROPSHIRE COUNTRYSIDE

The Ermine caterpillars appear in May and quickly spin these huge webs that cover shrubs and hedges. They use the webs for protection and stay together in large numbers. The webs are more extensive than the Lackey moth. The Ermine caterpillars are a similar size to the Lackey, but don’t have the distinct striped pattern and aren’t as hairy!

They feed ferociously on the foliage for about 6 weeks, then transform into the moth form. Although there are different species of Ermine moths, they are all grey or white with lots of black spots, such as the White Ermine moth, seen here.

This web was in a hedge near Ludlow in Shropshire.

Safety in numbers!

We watched the caterpillars for a while. They had pathways which they crawled down to ground level to munch on different plants. They followed each other along these webby paths, like a walking bus! They used the same path way to crawl back up, creating traffic jams!  You can see them in action in my video here.

I noticed that the large webs also collected moisture as you can see here in these droplets of water. As caterpillars don’t drink water, I suspect this was not a water-capturing mechanism employed by them.

The Ermine web we found near Ludlow is very modest, check out this enormous web created by the same caterpillar on this entire tree covered in Yorkshire.

So if you come across dense webs in shrubs that look like this, do take a closer look……although I can’t guarantee what will be lurking inside!

Happy Science-ing

Ruth

Chief Scientist at Devon Science

Want easy science experiments to do at home?

Head on over to our blog find out other cool experiments such as Glowing Fluorescent Liquid or the Super Easy 6 – a free download with 6 super-easy experiments to try at home! Our shop for made to order science kits, can be found here.

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 If you’re going to have a science party with experiments and science games, you surely have got to have a science cake as well?!

These creative confections will turn any science party into a spectacular celebration.

Chemistry Cake

These are really simple Victoria sponge cakes, with chemistry inspired decorations.

One of the cakes has little plastic bottles (these are reused, not bought new) filled with colourful liquids, one of which has spilled over, tipping green icing goo all over the cake! The “Happy Birthday” topper is widely available in supermarkets.

The others have a little bottle that seems to levitates above the cake with goo pouring out of it onto the cake below. This effect is managed by using a wooden skewer covered with icing which sticks in the cake and has the bottle (or you could use a test tube) balancing on the other end. You could use a strong pipe cleaner to prop it up (also cover it with icing) so that you can bend it around a little bit.

Both are engaging ways to introduce children to chemistry and were perfect alongside the Crazy Chemistry Party package we ran for these families. 

Space Cake

Launch your party into outer space with a space and astronaut cake that’s out of this world! Featuring blue and grey colour schemes, shimmering stars around the edge and topped with edible planets, these cakes add a “wow” touch to your space science party. It’s sure to impress little astronauts and space enthusiasts alike!

Slime Party Cake

Slime is always popular, and our slime parties are usually booked for older children, aged 8 and above. The slime-themed sponge cake is easy to make, even I would try this style myself, and I am a complete cake-novice! The edible slime-splat on top leaves no doubt that this is a slime party or a slime fanatic! Colourful decorations finish it off and these are obtained from local supermarkets or online.

Atom Cake

These 3 science cake examples all have atoms in common, the building blocks of matter, but each comes with a different budget.

The grey cake is medium priced and has the birthday child’s name written in periodic table elements, and a fun molecular decorations using icing balls.

The Rainbow cake below depicts the mixing of colourful chemicals to align with our Crazy Chemistry themed science party which has colour changing bubbly chemistry, and it has a simple paper atomic topper. This cake goes to show that you don’t have to spend a fortune to get a great looking science cake.

The very tall cake you see below was very tricky to cut, but looked amazing! The text was intricate, and they added exploding stars and protons half way up, and a hand modelled test tubes and an erupting conical flask right at the top, which was perfect for the chemistry we did for his birthday party.

Harry Potter Cake

We’ve seen many Harry Potter cakes at our “Magical Potions” themed parties. Most of the time these cakes are simple sponges covered in icing with commonly found Harry Potter themed toppers, these toppers are so widely available. However, this Harry Potter cake was incredible – a Monster Book of Monsters Cake – truly spectacular.

If you’re after something a little less time consuming, then maybe Harry Potter themed cupcakes would be perfect for everyone. You can also colour the sponge inside to represent the house colours, which aren’t revealed until you bite into them….using cake to sort party guests into their houses!

Nature Cake | Savanna Cake | Farmyard Cake

I have to share this one with you. This is by far the most detailed cake we have seen at our science parties. This was for a joint party, they both loved science and agreed on having our Crazy Chemistry themed Science Party but one of the children loved farmyard animals and the other loved the savanna habitat. The cake maker made a big cake the two children could share, but half had a farm yard scene, with the other half being the savanna. The details are incredible. Every time you look at it you see something different…can you spot the spider? I love the hay bales made of mini weetabix!

Science Party Decorations

I couldn’t leave without showing you some decorations ideas that caught our eye. Yes, you can buy the usual science party decorations online but these examples below show a little more of a personal touch.

What do you think?

a welcome poster display

sweets in jumbo test tubes

guests can make edible molecules

flowers in a hanging test tube rack

science named party treats

Look at these balloons fizzing out of the conical flask! Looks amazing but it did take a long time to set up. See also that the children got cup cakes to take home with them as well as a slice of the science cake.

Final Thoughts

Science-themed cakes are the perfect way to add a touch of magic and education to your child’s science party. These creative cakes not only look fantastic but also provide an interactive and enjoyable way to learn about science. If you’d like to see more about the science parties we offer, please go here: https://devonscience.co.uk/science-parties/

Or read more about what happens at our science parties here: https://devonscience.co.uk/what-to-expect-at-our-childrens-science-birthday-parties/

Happy baking, and here’s to a party that’s scientifically sweet!

Happy science-ing

Ruth

Chief Scientist at Devon Science

The post Perfect Science Cakes for Your Child’s Science Party appeared first on Devon Science.

During February & March 2022, we were delighted to offer free science kits & online classes, called Busy Bag Science, to primary school aged children who were self isolating due to Covid. We hoped these kept youngsters busy and engaged in science whilst they were at home.

The kits were given to children in the Torridge and North Devon areas, in the following postcodes:

EX16 (Witheridge), EX18; EX19; EX31; EX32; EX33; EX34; EX35; EX36; EX37; EX38; EX39

To accompany the kits, there were online classes for the youngsters to come along to in order to share what they’ve made & talk about the science behind the activities. 

The kits contained almost all resources needed for 4 experiments, with instructions.

This project was been funded by Devon County Council.

Find out about our science clubs

To see what other science workshops we have coming up locally, click here.

How about our award winning online clubs and classes where we send you the kit – the Brilliant Biology club includes the owl pellet kit.  

Want more free science activities?

Head on over to our blog to find out other cool science experiments such as Bath Bombs and Slime  and the Magic Milk Experiment  

  If you have any queries, please call/text Ruth on 07847006048 or contact us here.

Happy science-ing

Ruth

Chief Scientist    

The post Free Science Kits for Torridge & North Devon appeared first on Devon Science.

Last week at the Science & Nature Easter Holiday club, we met Spike – the scorpion. Spike’s owner, Ranger Russ, taught us loads about all his animals that he brought in for us to see, such as Millie the Millipede, Chomper the Tarantula, and Clive the 12ft python! However I was particularly intrigued by Spike’s special ability to glow under a UV torch, so I looked into this phenomenon a bit more and here’s what I found out…..

Spike the Scorpion looked black under normal light, but in fact he was a very dark green. When we shone a UV torch on him, he glowed an amazing bright blue-green colour. It looked stunning. Of course scorpions don’t just glow under UV torches, they also fluoresce under natural moonlight, and that makes much more sense!

However, it is not known for certain why scorpions glow. One theory is that it acts like a sunscreen, protecting them from the sunlight, another says it may help them see in the dark by creating a kind of night-light. Another reason may be to confuse or frighten prey – which seems odd as they are nocturnal, so why glow so brightly? Other research suggests they can detect moonlight and thus know when to come out to prey.

……or, perhaps it has no function at all!

The substance that glows is found in the hardened exoskeleton. When a scorpion sheds its skin, it temporarily loses its ability to fluoresce until the new cuticle hardens to form an exoskeleton. This suggests the fluorescing substance could be just be a chemical produced in the hardening process, and is a random act and so has no function.

So, there are several different ideas as to why scorpions fluoresce, which reason do you think is most plausible?

By the way, did you know that the scorpion fluoresces for some time after its died? Creepy.

Fun Facts

~Scorpions, with their distinctive sting, are well recognised arachnids found all over the world (except Antarctica!). Not naturally found in the UK, but they have been introduced accidentally and now live here!

~Some species reproduce by parthenogenesis – where an embryo develops from an unfertilized egg (basically they can produce babies without needing to mate!)

~The scorpion is nocturnal. It hides during the day under rocks and in holes then emerges at night to feed.

~Scorpions were around when dinosaurs roamed the earth!

Would you like to know ore about out Science Workshops, Parties & Events? Then browse our webpage here or contact us here.

The post The reasons why Scorpions glow under UV light. appeared first on Devon Science.