Sado - Botanical Garden and Insect Research

In Hamochi, right next to the onsen, there is a small botanical garden. An elderly woman takes care of the plants there alone, and today we want to help her with the iris flowers. The flowers grow in a field a little off to the side. There is a lot of weeds growing around the lilies, which we remove with a small saw and place around the flowers. This keeps the soil underneath moist, and the weeds provide additional nutrients to the plants. Jasmine, a student from England who has also accompanied us at the duck rice field, is with us again today. Together with her, we also want to take a look at the different insects found on Sado. While we cut the weeds, we take photos of the beetles, flies, bees, and ants that we come across. After working in the iris field, we return to the temple and continue our insect exploration there. We go to the field behind the temple where persimmon trees grow and there are also two rice fields. Walking in the hilly landscape, we have to be careful not to step on a hornet's nest or a snake hole with each step, but fortunately, we don't come across any of them. Due to the high biodiversity, almost every time we see an insect, it's something new. We diligently take photos and then meet up with Jasmine at the temple. We draw a map of the surroundings and mark where we found which insects. In the meantime, we make tea from the wild herbs we found in the field. Grace, my roommate, paints a picture of the beetle that sprayed her with its stinky substance on her hand, and then Jasmine heads back home, while we relax for the rest of the day.