It’s high time I thanked you all for your wonderful contributions to Bugs Britannica. What interesting and often amusing items you have sent me: local names, literary and film allusions, snippets of natural history, fears and pleasures, proverbs and sayings, inspired by invertebrates, even verse. You were also kind enough to send me various topics and references to follow up which were most valuable. I have responded to some of you personally already, but thank you again, one and all. Nearly everything you send in will be used in the book, as far as possible in your own words, and it will of course be properly accredited. You have clearly divined exactly the kind of stories we are looking for. Do keep them coming.

My own searchings have been mainly in the literature of entomology (in its widest sense). Among what are now a series of fat files sorted into orders and families, a typical gleaning might consist of pithy or classic quotations (eg Thomas Mouffet on flies: “All of them are begotten of filth and nastiness, to which they most willingly cleave… unquiet are they, importunate, hateful, troublesome, tumultuous, bold, saucy”.- with apologies to Dipterists everywhere), the places where one is most likely to be troubled by biting insects ( clegs – on the wrist, horseflies – on the calves and ankles, deer-flies – on the back of the neck), the ‘deep lore’ of dragonflies and ladybirds, the spooky mythology of moths (moth myths?), the history of leech-gathering in Britain, and the surprisingly sympathetic role of crickets in stories from Dickens to Pinocchio. It is an endlessly fascinating journey of discovery which I am now starting to write up, beginning with names and their origins (a hobbyhorse of mine). I am applying for a research scholarship to eke out the budget. Fingers crossed.

I am particularly keen to know about how today’s children regard bugs – do they give nicknames to various creatures, do they keep buggy pets or collect pond life or caterpillars to rear, or comb the beach for oddments of shore life as we did? Do today’s kids own a microscope or dream up rhymes, stories and games involving invertebrates? I hope Bugs Britannica can include a child’s perspective of the natural world, with all its vivid images and sense of wonder.

I will add progress reports to this blog as often as I can. We all want Bugs Britannica to be a genuinely interactive project with as many people as possible contributing to it. So don’t worry if you are not an expert. Most of us aren’t. What matters in a ‘people’s fauna’ is that it reflects our thoughts and feelings about the animal world and what the small life of the planet means to us as a society.

Thank you all for your support. Do tell others about the project and urge them to join in. This is very much a case of the more the merrier. Happy foraging!

Please note: Before posting please do take a moment to look at the previous submissions. This will help you and us avoid duplications.