Self-Made Naturalist

Ways to attract creatures to your garden Butterflies:  I have already discussed the habits of butterflies in the earlier blog, so if you have read it, you may well be able to guess ways of attracting them to your garden. I know there are lots and lots of websites offering information on this but still I'm posting this for every naturalist has a penchant to do so. Moving on to the ways... Plant larval host plants (LHPs) in your garden. Having an LHP means that particular butterflies will frequent your garden to lay eggs. If the egg survives, you will be able to observe the dramatic lifecycle of a butterfly, from the larval stage right up to the imago, provided its not preyed in between. Eg. Castor plant for Common Castor, Mango tree for Common Baron, etc. Plant nectaring plants. Most of the butterflies species gather their nutrients from nectar of flowers. Having patches of them in your garden increases chances of attracting butterflies, except those which have a greater a...

Butterflies – together with Moths – comprise the Order Lepidoptera (meaning ‘scaly-winged’). They are often seen flying around flowering plants in gardens as well as in forested areas. If one observes closely, one can find tiny butterflies among grasses, especially those bearing even tinier flowers. Moths are less often encountered than butterflies in urban areas, mostly when they are attracted inside our rooms by the electric lamps, dazzled by the glow.        Being insects, butterflies (and moths) have their body divided into three parts: head, thorax and abdomen. They have 6 legs, all of which are developed for walking in families such as Pieridae and Lycaenidae . But in some families, such as Nymphalidae , the forelegs are reduced and only 4 legs are visible. The base of the wings is attached to the thorax. Each side of the thorax bears a forewing and hindwing.       The lifecycle of butterflies is a very interesting a...

Odonates — an Introduction: ‘Odonates’ is a collective term for the dragonflies and damselflies – those small, slender, four winged creatures seen hovering above the grasses and water bodies, sometimes perching among the vegetation and at times in long flights above the ground. Most people get attracted to these by their super-fast flights, especially those of the dragonflies.      The term ‘Odonate’ has been derived from the Order of these insects, which is Odonata. The Order Odonata consists of three suborders – Anisoptera (Dragonflies), Zygoptera (Damselflies) and Anisozygoptera (Relict Dragonflies). Of these, Anisozygoptera or the Relict Dragonflies are the rarest. Above:   A simulated image of the  Meganeura. ©National Geographic Society. The dragonflies’ ancestors were probably the Meganeura , of the Order Meganisoptera. In a simple way, we can describe it as a larger version of the modern dragonflies. They evolved about 250 m...