Biological Radio

Saving Bugs by Blossom

From Sarah D: After a very chilly night we were welcomed by another bright day on Sunday. Our, now regular, bug hunters did us proud, turning up early with finds from around their tents. It was a particularly good day for soldier beetles! 

My highlight was a wonderful picture we received from Blossom, one of our first-time bug hunters: a stunning drawing of some mini beasts with the inspiring title on the back ‘Saving Bugs’ - thanks Blossom! 

Happy roadies, from left to right:
Hannah, Will, Sarah D., Alexe,
Helen, Em, Frazer

Our festival kit microbes had also started to grow, somewhat delayed by the coldish weather, and I was equally pleased and horrified to find out my wellies were at the top of the grossometer scale! 

I was sad to close up for the last time at 4pm for the parade - Everyone who dropped by made the Wychwood Festival outing of Sex & Bugs & Rock 'n Roll a great experience!

Our chalkboard, illustrated
by Tony De Saulles

From Em: During the day, Sunday was a bit calmer and Frazer and I took some time wandering round the festival site taking pictures of people wearing their badges or stickers and chatting to other contributors and the guys in the press tent. 

The day's excitement started when Tony de Saulles, illustrator of the 'Horrible Science' series beautified our bug-hunt chalkboard. Thanks Tony! Philip Ardagh also stopped by after his session at the literature tent and his son knew loads about being an amateur naturalist.

As we closed the stall up early, we took a mobile 'swabbing station' with us, and boy was that a great idea. We made a first trip backstage to swab festival organisers Graeme and Stefan - their surprisingly clean plates are on view here in the Microbe Hall of Shame. 

Explaining the science of
swabbing to Greg Dread

Then, thanks to Hannah's initiative, we made a second trip backstage to swab Greg Dread just before he went on stage with Dreadzone for the final (and, in my humble opinion, best) gig of the festival. We explained what we were doing to a slightly bemused Greg, who then agreed to let us swab the armpits of his jacket. Pity we didn't think to get another swab after he'd spent a good hour energetically pounding on the drums! In any case, it'll be interesting to see the comments on Dreadzone's Facebook page... and there are more photos here.

Greg Dread has been swabbed!

And so concludes our final instalment from Wychwood Festival. Thanks to everyone for making this such an amazing and memorable experience!

Ahoy!

Once we've all caught up on sleep, we'll start preparing for the next event.... watch this space!