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hobby_gardeningThe garden is a decorative space but more and more it's also about wildlife. My border of roses and flowering shrubs would be a desert for many insects so I introduced the buddleia and lavender. The early flowering lilac is appreciated by some insects.
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I stopped using harmful chemicals. One year there were no aphids at all, and that was alarming. They're not creatures that you want to see but their total absence is very worrying. In subsequent years they have appeared again, thank goodness, and I leave it up to the hoverflies and their larvae to keep the aphids under control. Sadly I haven't seen a ladybird for years.
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It has been a better year for butterflies. We have red admirals, the occasional tortoiseshell and, to our delight, a peacock butterfly.
On Sunday Deb spotted something strange hovering over the buddleia. We studied this strange creature, most likely a day-flying moth, as it hovered over the flowers, extending its long proboscis but never settling. Deb said it behaved like a hummingbird and that became the successful search term. It is a hummingbird hawk moth. It seems that several hawk moths appear here in the north and they all like the plants called bedstraw.
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(I love the arcs of his blurry wings in this photo)
I had two patches that I had left to grow for the insects and birds. Unfortunately they became totally infested with creeping buttercups to the exclusion of everything else. I decided to clear them and start again. That sounds like a trivial task said quickly! It isn't. One patch had been dug before so it isn't too bad. The other had never been dug in my time. It's hard work, being on the clay that is so prevalent in our Old Red Sandstone geology. My hope is that I can clear it in the next couple of months then seed Ladies Bedstraw which will take hold over the autumn and winter and flower next year. They have a profusion of yellow flowers. These should attract several day-flying moth species and many other insects. Bedstraw is an invasive plant with a behaviour not unlike the buttercup which it will replace. It extends long stalks which take root when they touch the soil. Its invasiveness isn't a concern as the shape and size of the plot will limit its spread.
Hosted on Fotki
I stopped using harmful chemicals. One year there were no aphids at all, and that was alarming. They're not creatures that you want to see but their total absence is very worrying. In subsequent years they have appeared again, thank goodness, and I leave it up to the hoverflies and their larvae to keep the aphids under control. Sadly I haven't seen a ladybird for years.
Hosted on Fotki
It has been a better year for butterflies. We have red admirals, the occasional tortoiseshell and, to our delight, a peacock butterfly.
On Sunday Deb spotted something strange hovering over the buddleia. We studied this strange creature, most likely a day-flying moth, as it hovered over the flowers, extending its long proboscis but never settling. Deb said it behaved like a hummingbird and that became the successful search term. It is a hummingbird hawk moth. It seems that several hawk moths appear here in the north and they all like the plants called bedstraw.
Hosted on Fotki
(I love the arcs of his blurry wings in this photo)
I had two patches that I had left to grow for the insects and birds. Unfortunately they became totally infested with creeping buttercups to the exclusion of everything else. I decided to clear them and start again. That sounds like a trivial task said quickly! It isn't. One patch had been dug before so it isn't too bad. The other had never been dug in my time. It's hard work, being on the clay that is so prevalent in our Old Red Sandstone geology. My hope is that I can clear it in the next couple of months then seed Ladies Bedstraw which will take hold over the autumn and winter and flower next year. They have a profusion of yellow flowers. These should attract several day-flying moth species and many other insects. Bedstraw is an invasive plant with a behaviour not unlike the buttercup which it will replace. It extends long stalks which take root when they touch the soil. Its invasiveness isn't a concern as the shape and size of the plot will limit its spread.
