This section of the website should really be called "Mainly insects"
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because that's what the photos are - but with a few different things added which
don't fit into the other sections.
I used to be indifferent to insects and hardly took notice of them. It wasn't until I started to deliberately seek out what was in the garden and ID them, I started see their (well some of them!) beauty and to understand their importance, that they all have a job in keeping the natural balance of the garden. Even the aphids are bird food.
ladybirds keep aphid numbers down, but their larvae will eat many more during that period of development than they do as adults. We have had, 2 spot, 7 spot, 14 spot, 16 spot and 22 spot ladybirds. Luckily none of the invasive harlequins as yet but no doubt it's just a matter of time. One of the best discoveries for me were some ladybird eggs under the garden table and waiting for the larvae to hatch. Watching the change in the eggs then the hatching through a magnifying glass over the hours and seeing the tiny larvae scuttle off. I was able to take some photos and they are in the May 2007 gallery.
Hoverflies, which look like wasps or bees, but without the sting - their larvae also eat huge numbers of aphids
Ground beetles and other invertebrates will eat slug and snail eggs, so having
a habitat to attract them like log piles and ground cover will keep those dreaded
snail and slug numbers down. This is especially important in a garden with no
hedgehogs, frogs and toads. Some of these have iridescent colourings and
look quite lovely, not like the church yard beetles we get though!
Bees, are essential to pollinate plants - we need them to survive so we humans can survive! Luckily they seem to love our garden and are always abundant during the summer. They need pollen and nectar which they get from herbs and old fashioned single flowers. Not modern double flowers and hybrids.
These days we get dragonflies and damselflies visit us, which is so great. The water probably attracts them, but when they find a spot to rest they stay quite a while.
In the gallery there are also images of mice, , lace wings, frog and leaf hoppers, bush crickets and caterpillars among others. And egg laying sawflies, hatching lady bird larvae and unknown larvae sequences which although the piccies aren't great, I am pleased to have captured. Actually, although this gallery is a bit of a mish mash, it's my favourite and most interesting - I think!
It certainly pays to actually go looking for things of interest and turning
leaves carefully, it's surprising what are stuck to the undersides of ivy leaves.
I like to look on stems and between the plants on the soil. I do stop this practice
at the end of September, when there are spiders everywhere I look!
