Seona Anderson 02/07/2024 Seona Anderson 02/07/2024

GLOWWORM

Shakespeare Species Glowworm: the glowworm shows the matin to be near, and ‘gins to pale hi uneffectual fire. Glowworms are female beetles and they shine in summer meadows. They are declining in the UK and Europe.

Seona Anderson 02/07/2024 Seona Anderson 02/07/2024

CRICKET

Shakespeare Species Cricket: her collars of the moonshine’s wat’ry beams, her whip of cricket’s bones, the lash of film. Yet more insect based construction and accessories for Mab, Queen of the Fairies.

Seona Anderson 02/07/2024 Seona Anderson 02/07/2024

FLY

Shakespeare Species Fly: As flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods; they kill us for their sport. House Flies have featured in the culture and literature of many cultures around the world.

Seona Anderson 02/07/2024 Seona Anderson 02/07/2024

MOTH

Shakespeare Species Moth: they say that all the yarn she spun in Ulysses’ absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths. Moths have great diversity and beauty with over 2,500 species in the UK, only 2 species favour clothes as food.

Seona Anderson 02/07/2024 Seona Anderson 02/07/2024

GRASSHOPPER

Shakespeare Species Grasshopper: Her wagon spokes made of long spinners’ legs, the cover of the wings of grasshoppers. Queen Mab’s Fairy chariot is based on insect engineering.

Seona Anderson 02/07/2024 Seona Anderson 02/07/2024

BEETLE

Shakespeare Species Beetle: And the poor beetle that we tread upon in corporal sufferance finds a pang as great as when a giant dies. There are over 4000 Beetle species in the UK.

Seona Anderson 02/07/2024 Seona Anderson 02/07/2024

SPIDER

Shakespeare Species Spider: My brain more busy than the labouring spider, weaves tedious snares to trap mine enemies. There are over 600 species of Spider in the UK.

Seona Anderson 22/06/2024 Seona Anderson 22/06/2024

RED-HIPPED HUMBLE-BEE

Shakespeare Species Red-Hipped Humble Bee: kill me a red-hipped humble bee on top of a thistle and…bring me the honey bag. There are 6 red tailed Bumble Bees in the UK. This is a beautifully observed image from nature.

Seona Anderson 16/06/2024 Seona Anderson 16/06/2024

BUTTERFLY

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, BUTTERFLY: I saw him run after a gilded butterfly. Butterflies are a recurring motif in Coriolanus but appear elsewhere as symbols of summer and beauty. There are 59 Butterfly species in the UK.

Seona Anderson 15/06/2024 Seona Anderson 15/06/2024

CATERPILLAR

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, CATERPILLAR: Bushy, Bagot and their complices, the caterpillars of the commonwealth. Caterpillar is used as an insult in several Shakespeare works.

Seona Anderson 24/05/2024 Seona Anderson 24/05/2024

WASP

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, WASP: Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient fool art thou. The Wasp is not usually a welcome guest at social gatherings but the 7000 species of social & solitary wasps in the UK play an important ecological role.

Seona Anderson 07/04/2024 Seona Anderson 07/04/2024

WATERFLIES

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, WATERFLIES: Ah, how the poor world is pestered with such waterflies, diminutives of nature. Shakespeare intends this as an insult but Waterflies such as the Mayflies have complex & fascinating life cycles.

Seona Anderson 03/04/2024 Seona Anderson 03/04/2024

Humble (Bumble)-Bee

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, HUMBLE-BEE: Full merrily the humble-bee doth sing, till he hath lost his honey and his sting; There are currently 24 species of Bumble Bee in the UK.

Seona Anderson 26/03/2024 Seona Anderson 26/03/2024

TICK

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, TICK: I had rather be a tick in a sheep than such a valiant ignorance. Ticks can carry dangerous diseases including Lyme Disease.

Seona Anderson 22/03/2024 Seona Anderson 22/03/2024

LADYBIRD

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, LADYBIRD: What, lamb! What, ladybird! Where’s this girl. What, Juliet! There are 26 species of these iconic insects in Britain.

Seona Anderson 20/03/2024 Seona Anderson 20/03/2024

WORM

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, WORM: A man may fish with a worm that hath eat of a king and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. Worms are remarkable undervalued creatures that maintain our soils and habitats.

Seona Anderson 09/03/2024 Seona Anderson 09/03/2024

ANT/PISMIRE

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, ANT: We’ll set thee to school to an ant to learn that there’s no labouring i’ th’ winter. Ants were considered examples of ‘good’ insects whose organisational and social structures were considered instructional for human society.

Seona Anderson 29/01/2024 Seona Anderson 29/01/2024

SLUG

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, SLUG: Fie, what a slug is Hastings, that he comes not to tell us whether they come or no! Slugs are often associated with slowness and Shakespeare also uses this metaphor.

Seona Anderson 12/01/2024 Seona Anderson 12/01/2024

LEECH

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, LEECH: let us to France, like horse-leeches, my boys, to suck, to suck, the very blood to suck. Read about the fascinating lifecycle and medical history of Leeches.

Seona Anderson 10/01/2024 Seona Anderson 10/01/2024

FLEA

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, FLEA: You may as well say that’s a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion. Fleas have long been companions and irritants to human societies & Shakespeare does not exclude them from his poetry.