Thank you St Oswald’s School

Thank you to the pupils and staff at St Oswald’s School, just down the road from me in Fulford, on the outskirts of York. They welcomed me very warmly into their community today, and I enjoyed seeing inside their fantastic new school building.

St Oswald's Primary School

First of all I performed my Buzzing! show for the whole school. Then a group of children performed a poem for me. It had a great ‘clickety clack’ train rhythm running throughout. I wish them good luck in their performance poetry competition!

After break I led a poetry workshop with Mrs Stinson’s Year 3 class, who discovered some great creatures – unknown to science – during the course of the morning. Well done to all of them!

Today’s school visit was special for two reasons. Firstly, it was the first performance I’ve cycled to – on my wonderful new electric bike. TheBigBuzz electric bike is called Bizzy Lizzy, and she is making it possible for me to get to all sorts of places I couldn’t get to before!

Bizzy Lizzy - theBigBuzz bike

The second reason today’s visit was special was that I was able to take in a sample Rosemary beetle for the children to see. I found this very beautiful beetle in my garden last Thursday. Andrew Halstead from RHS Wisley has confirmed that this is only the second Rosemary beetle ever to be recorded in York – and the only one ever recorded on my side of the River Ouse. Find out more

I asked the children at St Oswald’s to look in their gardens and see if they’ve got any Rosemary beetles where they are. I’m looking forward to hearing back from them!

I’d also love to receive feedback about today’s visit from any pupils or staff – so please, email me by clicking on ‘Comment’ or ‘Leave a reply’ at the foot of this blog post, or email info@theBigBuzz.biz  I look forward to hearing from you!

Anneliese Emmans Dean – info@theBigBuzz.biz – www.theBigBuzz.biz

Rosemary beetle – another first for Heslington!

I found a beautiful beetle on my lavender bush on Thursday lunchtime. I’d never seen one like it before. I tried to identify it, but couldn’t, as it wasn’t in any of my insect books.

Rosemary beetle (Chrysolina americana)

As it looked a bit like the Tansy beetle (Chrysolina graminis), I sought assistance from a local Tansy beetle expert, Dr Geoff Oxford at the University of York. He identified it for me as a Rosemary beetle (Chrysolina americana).

I googled Rosemary beetle and found a very informative page about it on the RHS website. I discovered that this beetle is a native of southern Europe. And from the map on the RHS web page, that it looked as if the Rosemary beetle had never been recorded in York before … Not another World First Insect Discovery for my little garden in Heslington! (Click here for info. about my previous World First Insect Discovery.)

I recorded my sighting on the RHS Rosemary Beetle survey page, and also contacted Andrew Halstead at RHS Wisley. He told me that mine was the second recorded sighting in York, the first having been in June of this year. So, not the first recorded Rosemary beetle ever in York – but the first on my side of the river!

Have a look on your rosemary, lavender and sage bushes and see if you can find this beautiful beetle in your garden. If you do find it, let the RHS know by filling in their Rosemary Beetle Report Form.

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