Tag: education

Events 

Education and awareness-raising activities in the White Carpathians

Posted By: Kamila Redererova 91 Views 0 Comment , ,

In 2024, the Education and Information Centre White Carpathians continued the Apollo Project and its related education and awareness activities.

This year we created 6 new gardens for Apollo in our White Carpathians functional area, usually in the form of a raised bed.  The beds were seeded with nectarous plants favoured by the adult Apollo, i.e. various pink and purple flowering plants. The sown mixture has also been enriched with other flowers that attract other species of butterflies or insects. The bed also includes a rockery with host plants for caterpillars. In the White Carpathians, these are mainly the large stonecrop, which occurs naturally here. In addition, the white stonecrop is another important host plant for the caterpillars of the Apollo’s caterpillar.

Most Gardens for Apollo are created in collaboration with schools and kindergartens, or community gardens for example, and are preceded by an educational part in which the pupils are introduced to butterflies in general and then, of course, to the Apollo.  Pupils love playing caterpillars, which then become pupae. We use our five metre long pupa, which resembles a real Apollo’s pupa, and the caterpillars (the pupils) climb into it and fall asleep. After one of nature’s miracles, the metamorphosis, has taken place in the chrysalis, the pupils become adult butterflies and fly out of the pupa.  Another popular activity is the preparation of a sweet liquid as close as possible to the nectar found in the flowers of plants, the only food for adult butterflies. This is followed by a tasting, of course. After all, the students are adult butterflies for the rest of the programme!

This is followed by the completion of the raised bed in the school garden.  The pupils enthusiastically set about tidying up the prepared raised bed and creating a rock garden with their own stones. In order to make the students feel more connected to the bed, most of the stones for the rock garden are found in nature and brought in by the students themselves, sometimes painted with different motifs, especially butterflies. Once the raised bed is ready, they sow the flower mixture and plant the stonecrops.

Awareness was also raised at other events. At the beginning of the year, the traditional seminar dedicated to our functional area was held, where around 60 participants from the Czech and Slovak Republics listened with interest to the presentation on the project. In the spring, our organisation hosted officials from the South Moravian Region. Like the students from Slovenia, they visited our breeding station and learned a lot of interesting information not only about the Apollo, but also about the importance of nature conservation in general. At another awareness-raising event in the House of Nature of the White Carpathians, the visitors also learned about the Apollo, and especially the younger ones were able to draw a picture of a Apollo, get a tattoo of a Apollo or take away a memory game with animal species that live in similar habitats to the Apollo. A lecture for senior citizens from the White Carpathian region was very well attended, presenting the Apollo, its life cycle and the habitats it inhabits.

The LIFE Apollo2020 project is proof that collaboration between experts, schools and the community can deliver concrete conservation results. Through these gardens, we are not only helping to conserve the Apollo (and other species with similar requirements), but also educating and inspiring the next generation to care for our natural world.

Butterflies for beginners Events 

Hands-On learning with the Apollo in Austria

Posted By: Vlado Vancura 224 Views 0 Comment

As part of the LIFEApollo2020 project, several engaging workshops were held across Austrian schools this year to introduce students to the Apollo butterfly (Parnassius apollo) and its importance in maintaining healthy ecosystems. Through hands-on activities and the creation of a dedicated Apollo garden, students learned about the unique needs of this species and how conservation efforts can protect it.

School Workshops: Interactive learning is fun!

In Spring, the austrian project team, together with butterfly expert Otto Feldner, organized engaging workshops in Austrian schools to introduce students to the captivating life of the Apollo butterfly. Each workshop began with an interactive overview of the Apollo butterfly’s lifecycle, guiding students through each stage from egg to caterpillar, pupa, and finally, the adult butterfly. By exploring the specific needs of the Apollo butterfly at each stage we aimed for students to develop a deeper respect for its lifecycle and understand the importance of habitat preservation. They learned about the butterfly’s reliance on specific feeding plants, with adult butterflies (imagines) depending on nectar sources like pincushion flowers, knapweeds and thistle, while caterpillars (larvae) feed exclusively on Sedum species such as Sedum album, Sedum sexangulare, or Sedum telephium maximum. Without these plants, it wouldn’t be possible to maintain the delicate balance essential for the Apollo butterfly’s survival.

Through lectures and followed up group and individual works, students explored the concept of an “Umbrella species” and how conserving a single species, like Parnassius apollo, can have widespread benefits for its entire ecosystem. An umbrella species is one whose protection indirectly shields many other species within the same habitat. Since the Apollo butterfly has very specific habitat and dietary needs, ensuring that its environment remains intact requires maintaining a rich diversity of native plants, clean soil, minimal human disturbance and polution levels. This, in turn, creates a suitable habitat for countless other organisms that share the same space. This learning experience not only educated students on butterfly conservation but also hopefully deepened their appreciation for the interconnectedness of nature.

The Apollo Garden: Building a conservation space together

In collaboration with students, an Apollo Garden was established at a school in Mittersill, Austria, as part of the LIFEApollo2020 project. This garden serves as a dedicated small-scale habitat for Apollo butterflies and other pollinators, allowing students to actively participate in conservation. Together, they designed and created a vibrant space, carefully planting Sedum species essential for caterpillars, as well as seeds of a variety of nectar-rich flowers like pincushion flowers, thistles, and field scabious, which provide food for adult butterflies. The garden also includes stones and sunlit areas, mimicking the natural rocky habitats that Apollo butterflies prefer.

Students and teachers learned practical gardening techniques to make environments more butterfly-friendly, such as selecting the right plants, ensuring good soil conditions, and creating sheltering spots. Creating the Apollo Garden allowed students to experience how conservation can begin in their own community. They learned that even small gardens can act as “stepping stones” for butterflies and other pollinators, aiding in migration and enhancing local biodiversity.

#followapollo Butterflies for beginners 

Gardens for Apollo: Something for Butterflies, Caterpillars, and People

Posted By: Kamila Redererova 228 Views 0 Comment , ,

One of the key activities of the Apollo 2020 project, “Conservation of Parnassius apollo in Poland, Czechia, and Austria,” is creating habitats for butterflies and offering educational activities. This led to the idea of establishing Gardens for Apollo. These gardens are special spaces where we plant nectar-rich flowers for butterflies and host plants for Apollo caterpillars.

Each garden is built with the direct involvement of local site hosts, guided by our experts. Before any planting begins, we organize educational talks and workshops for both adults and children. Some gardens, especially smaller ones, focus more on education. For instance, school gardens highlight how changing garden management can attract pollinators. These small spaces also create conditions that support the growth of Parnassius apollo populations as individuals reintroduced nearby spread into these gardens.

Meanwhile, some larger Gardens for Apollo are designed as habitats where future butterfly reintroductions are planned. All of these gardens are located within the project’s activity area, known as the Land of the Apollo. This region is becoming known for not only its natural connection to the species but also its cultural significance, thanks to the project’s efforts.

This year, we’ve created four new Gardens for Apollo and revisited one established in 2023. Our garden season began in April with a visit to the Arts and Crafts School Complex in Jelenia Góra. Despite late sowing in June, we were pleased to find that the plants had germinated and spread. Together with the students, we sowed more seeds and installed a sign with information about the garden and the project. We hope the meadow continues to grow and becomes a feeding ground for many pollinators.

In May, we planted two Gardens for Apollo near the Ecocentre in Uniemyśl. At the Tatra Glamp camping site in Okrzeszyn, we talked about the Apollo butterfly and its habitat, and introduced our citizen science campaign, “Where is the Big White Butterfly?”. With the help of campsite guests and local residents, we prepared the ground, planted Sedum, and sowed seeds of meadow plants. We’re excited to continue working with them to expand nature education in the area.

Later in May, we participated in the annual Upper Lusatian Houses Open Day, where we organized a fair of local handicrafts and products. Alongside the visitors, we planted another Garden for Apollo at a small market near the local inn.

In between these activities, we also visited Primary School No. 1 in Kamienna Góra. The students there helped us create a Sedum “roundabout,” designed to gradually transform the school lawn into a flowering meadow. Working with these energetic children was both fun and productive!

Our biggest challenge came with the Garden for Apollo at the Parada Three Cultures House in Niedamirów. The venue’s beautiful setting and supportive atmosphere made it a fantastic event. Together with the team from the Karkonosze National Park, we held a family-friendly festival that included lectures, workshops, and, of course, gardening. We planted 10 acres of butterfly-friendly plants, and in the autumn, we’ll create a habitat using limestone aggregate and more Sedum. We’ll always remember that day and the inspiring conversations we had with participants. Next year, we hope the Apollo butterfly will visit Niedamirów and enjoy the garden as much as we did!

Looking ahead, we’re already brainstorming ideas for next year’s Gardens for Apollo. If you’re active or live in the Western Sudeten region and would like to start a garden with us, we’d love to hear from you!

Project news 

Outreach activities in White Carpathians

Posted By: Roman Manak 524 Views 0 Comment

As our project continues, so does our centre (Education and information centre Bílé Karpaty) continue to create educational and teaching aids. But how to test if these tools work as we imagined? The best way, of course, is to try them out directly while working with the children for whom they are primarily intended. The best time for such a trial is when setting up the Apollo Gardens, which have been introduced on this website before (for example, in the article Two Apollo Gardens built).

We have managed to build four such gardens in the past year, each in partnership with a school. All four gardens are raised beds that we have constructed in a pre-selected location. The rest was up to the children. With undisguised joy and enthusiasm, the children became gardeners and filled the bed with soil and levelled its surface. They then placed larger and smaller stones, which they had brought themselves, on a part of the bed to create a small rock garden. They poured silica sand into the slits between the stones.

Then came the main thing. Since the Apollo Gardens are meant to be an environment for both adult butterflies and their caterpillars, the prepared bed needed to be enlivened with nectarous plants for the adult butterflies and host plants for the caterpillars. The children planted white stonecrop plants in the sand of the rock garden and randomly planted small common houseleek among them. Although it is not an important food plant for caterpillars, caterpillars can occasionally use it and it is a nice diversion to the rock garden. Next to the rock garden, the children planted great stonecrop – another important food plant for caterpillars.

What about the rest of the bed area? The children had already guessed that the flowering plants that the adult butterflies need to live would come here. We provided meadow plant mix seeds for this purpose. A significant part of this mixture consisted of seeds of the Apollo´s favourite plants (various pink and purple flowering plants) and the rest of the seeds were other meadow plants to make the bed more varied, attractive to other pollinators and to keep it flowering for as long as possible.

An indispensable part of creating each bed was the time we spent with the children talking about the life cycle of butterflies, their importance in nature and other things. Of course, we also introduced in detail our main hero, the Apollo butterfly, the reasons why it has disappeared from our nature and how we can help it. At this point it was also our turn to try out some of the tools we had already created. A great success was always achieved by the Apollo pupa, several meters long, which the children climbed through, and on the other side, an adult Apollo emerged from them. Equally enthusiastic was the preparation of a sweet drink (represented nectar in flowers for the adult butterflies) and tattoos with all the developmental stages of the Apollo.

We have not only used the tools and materials to build Apollo Gardens, but also at several other events for the public. The children enjoyed the activities and we believe they will not forget Apollo right away. Among other things, it was confirmed to us that even ordinary coloring according to a template still has its charm and can entertain children.