GLOWWORM
Insects, Glowworm Seona Anderson Insects, Glowworm Seona Anderson

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.

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CRICKET
Insects, Cricket Seona Anderson Insects, Cricket Seona Anderson

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.

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FLY
Insects, Flies Seona Anderson Insects, Flies Seona Anderson

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.

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MOTH
Insects, Moths Seona Anderson Insects, Moths Seona Anderson

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.

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GRASSHOPPER
Insects, Grasshopper Seona Anderson Insects, Grasshopper Seona Anderson

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.

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BEETLE
Insects, Beetle Seona Anderson Insects, Beetle Seona Anderson

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.

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SPIDER
Insects, Spider Seona Anderson Insects, Spider Seona Anderson

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.

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BUTTERFLY
Insects, Butterfly Seona Anderson Insects, Butterfly Seona Anderson

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.

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WASP
Insects, Wasp Seona Anderson Insects, Wasp Seona Anderson

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.

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TICK
Insects, Tick Seona Anderson Insects, Tick Seona Anderson

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.

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LADYBIRD
Insects, Ladybird Seona Anderson Insects, Ladybird Seona Anderson

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.

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WORM
Insects, Worm Seona Anderson Insects, Worm Seona Anderson

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.

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ANT/PISMIRE
Insects, Ant, Pismire Seona Anderson Insects, Ant, Pismire Seona Anderson

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.

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SLUG
Insects, Slug Seona Anderson Insects, Slug Seona Anderson

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.

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LEECH
Insects, Leech, Medicine Seona Anderson Insects, Leech, Medicine Seona Anderson

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.

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