iSpot launch at the Dorset County Show - event report

5-6 August 2009, Dorset

Bob Ford, iSpot biodiversity mentor for southern England, reports on the promotion of iSpot at the Dorset County Show.
 

To promote the iSpot website launch, we attended the Dorset County Show and shared a marquee with the Dorset Wildlife Trust.

We had some live animals in our tent to grab the attention of the public. I brought along my pet ferret, which looks very much like a polecat. It made a nice addition to our display on the spread of the polecat into southern England.

Another of our live creatures came my way a few days before the show when I found the largest Wasp Spider I have ever seen. It was duly photographed and captured before I submitted it as a new observation on iSpot. Print-outs of this iSpot page made an informative display. It was great to have the star of the site in attendance.

I also brought along two Poplar Hawk-Moth caterpillars that caught my eye in my garden on the morning of the event.

The show was busy from the outset, with plenty of people stopping by to say hello to the ferret. Many conversations were had over the difference between ferrets and polecats, and whether you could really tell if a ferret was going to bite you or not (you can't).

We had a tank of long grass on the table where the Wasp Spider was hiding, ready to surprise the unwary. I say hiding, but actually she chose to spend most of the day on the bright blue display board where the contrast with her black and yellow stripes was truly outstanding.

Nearly everyone who saw the spider said they had no idea that we had anything like it in this country.

The Hawk-Moth caterpillar was a much better example of camouflage, sitting motionless all day on a branch of willow in the Wildlife Trust's exhibition of camouflaged animals.

Children were given prizes if they managed to spot all 10 camouflaged species, with the smaller caterpillar I had found earlier in the morning proving useful in showing them what to look for.

Join us at our next iSpot launch event. See the South West activities page for full event listings.