Insect Folklore

The summer months are the best time of year to admire the insect and invertebrate life that makes our garden habitats home. You might only have a few plants in pots on a balcony, or your garden may extend to a small jungle with plenty of wild spaces and a pond to boot; whichever way you look at it, you provide a welcome place for a plethora of small critters that call this space home. The warmer, longer days of summer are when they really come into their own with their adult forms emerging from long winter dormancy, or sometimes even lengthier larval stages in rotting wood, underground or even underwater.

They play a vital role in our ecosystems, not only as pollinators but as predators (think of wasps and ladybirds which eat other, smaller insects), and of course prey for a wide range of species from Hedgehogs, Bats and Badgers to Buzzards and Blue tits. They also feature heavily in our folklore.

Butterflies, for example, were believed to be the souls of the dead. Depending on where in Britain you were from, they either belonged to the newly departed, awaiting their judgement, or unbaptised babies. These beliefs stemmed from the idea that the metamorphosis of a butterfly was akin to the phases of human growth and that on death, the soul would escape the body and fly away. In Christianity, they are often associated with resurrection or spiritual transformation.

Dragonflies and damselflies have similarly gritty folkloric stories surrounding them. Dragonflies were known as ‘Horse-stingers’, possibly for their habit of hunting around livestock. Here the Dragonflies’ prey – flies – were abundant, but being larger and more obvious, Dragonflies were mistaken for the culprit when the animals were seen to react to a biting fly.

Damselflies by contrast were known as the ‘Devil’s Darning Needles’ because of an old myth, that if you slept by water on a summer’s day, they would use their slender bodies to sew your lips or eyelids shut. Meanwhile, in Wales, they were called ‘Adder’s servants’, for the similar belief that they could stitch the wounds of injured snakes.

Some beetles also have fascinating folklore surrounding them, such as stag beetles which were believed to summon thunderstorms; the ticking noise of a Deathwatch Beetle was interpreted as a sign of impending death, hence their common name, and the Devil’s Coach Horse was often seen as a sign of the Devil himself. Some believed it ate the core of Eve’s apple in the Garden of Eden or even acted as the beetle form of Judas Iscariot!

Not all connotations are negative though. In Cambridgeshire, whilst it is bad luck to harm or kill Dragonflies, they are considered as good luck if you see one – if you cross your fingers, you can make a wish. Similarly, in Ireland, if you see a yellow Butterfly, it is said success will come your way. Ladybirds are also considered lucky and harbingers of good news.

Of course, we now know much more about the intricate lives of the myriad species that call our gardens home, but many superstitions prevail. Perhaps you’ll take a closer look at some of the invertebrates that you share your space with this summer though, and we can rewrite some of the more negative stories into positives. For example, Earwigs get their name from the misguided belief that they crawl into people’s ears and burrow into their brains, which is untrue. But did you know that an Earwig is a wonderful mother? They lay their eggs in the autumn and then guard them through the winter, keeping them clean from fungal infection and safe from predators. They will even relocate the entire nest to a safer location if necessary. Once hatched, they continue to care for their young and feed them regurgitated food. That feels like a fact that should be celebrated!