The Manx Wildlife Trust has launched a competition to encourage children to take action to help bees and other important pollinators in the island.

Children are being asked to create an ’Ugly Bug Bowl’ - a pot with plant seeds to attract insects by creating a mini-bug home in a flowerpot.

Pollinators are insects or other animals that transfer pollen from one plant to another. That allows them to produce fruit and seeds.

At least 1,500 species of insects pollinate plants in the UK and the British Isles including bumble bees, the honey bee, solitary bees, hoverflies, wasps, flies, beetles, butterflies and moths.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust says two species of bee have already become extinct in Britain and a further two are endangered.

Managed honey bee colonies numbers have fallen by 53 per cent in the UK between 1985 and 2005 according to research by Reading University, while wild honey bees are thought to be nearly extinct in Britain.

This decline is thought to be at least partly caused by the decline in flower-rich grasslands, which means a valuable source of food for the bumblebees and other pollinators has fast disappeared.

The UK has lost 97 per cent of its flower-rich grassland since the 1930s.

In the Isle of Man there are a variety of pressures affecting our flower rich grasslands.

In some areas farmland is ploughed up to the field margins, a space where wildflowers could potentially grow.

In addition nutrients and fertilisers can be harmful to pollinators while the pressure for new developments on land has also affected the insects’ habitat.

One way to help protect pollinators is by transforming gardens into wildlife sanctuaries.

There are many ways people can attract wildlife to their garden.

The Manx Wildlife Trust has put together several tips on its website.

To help get children and families started with wildlife gardening, the MWT has created the ’Ugly Bug Bowl’ competition.

An MWT spokesman said: ’The competition is a great way to introduce kids and their families to gardening and to a fun and easy way that they can help protect wildlife in their own back garden.

’Children will get to make their own "Ugly Bug Bowl", a pot with plant seeds to attract insects, creating a mini-bug home in a flowerpot to turn your garden into a paradise for pollinators.

’Kids will be encouraged to get creative in picking plants that help wildlife, and at the same time learn about the species that the bug bowls encourage, namely bees, butterflies and other pollinators.’

There are two ways to enter.

The first is the ’Ugly Bug Bowl’ workshop.

That will include the kit, paint and bamboo pieces to make a bug home. Those who enter through the workshop will also need to read the competition guidelines.

It takes place on Thursday, April 13, at Ramsey Garden Centre from 2pm.

The cost is £10 per kit made.

The competition is open only to children of ages three to 16 living on the Isle of Man, but anyone interested attracting wildlife to their garden are invited to come to create a bowl.

Booking is essential for this workshop; please book your place with Biodiversity Education Officer, Dawn Dickens via [email protected] or (01624) 844432.

The second way of taking part is by buying a kit from Ramsey Garden Centre, which will include a terracotta bowl, compost, seed mix and a child friendly bee, bug and butterfly chart.

To give bug bowls plenty of time to blossom, the judging will take place on Saturday, July 29, at 1pm, at Ramsey Garden Centre, when the entrants will be required to bring in their bowl for judging.

Entrants will also need to bring the label included in the competition Guidelines to attach to their bug bowl.

Ramsey Garden Centre has sponsored first, second and third prizes for the top three winning participants.

Prizes include a bug home, a pond dipping kit, and a bug hunting kit, to be divided between the winners.

Each of the three winners will also receive a £10 voucher to spend at Ramsey Garden Centre.