Pitfall traps

There’s one further activity you can try out when you’re visiting “Amidst the Larches” and that’s using pitfall traps to catch a wide variety of creepy-crawlies. Many of these will turn out to be ground beetles.

Even though insects are an enormous group of animals, they don’t hold exclusive rights to life on the forest floor. There’s competition from many other groups of tiny animals, including those that find insects a real treat.

While you’re asleep, life on the forest floor is crawling with insects and other bugs that are rushing around in their search for food or a mate. In this search they can either be lured into the trap by the prospect of something as delicious as wine vinegar or they might be running so fast that they don’t notice the trap and tumble right down into it.

So, place the traps before you go to bed and next morning you’ll be able to examine all kinds of exciting and weird creatures that were rushing around while you were ‘sawing logs’.

In the box, you’ll find all the things needed to make pitfall traps and instructions on how to make and place the traps. There’s also information about the various groups of bugs you might be lucky enough to find.

Have fun with the traps.

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