Lack of insects in my garden

AreWeThereYet

sassysayso We get fox cubs too when it's sunny. Adult brought three last year to play in the longer grass at the bottom of the garden. Haven't seen them this year but have had an adult walking through, so maybe when it gets a bit warmer/drier they'll come out.

I did see one adult fox in my garden until it ran away when it saw me. Not in a very good condition, possibly mange and very little tail. Made me sad

South Hampshire, I’ve seen ladybirds, bees and bumblebees, a few small moths, two bats at dusk.

We've had a very wet March and April and the weather didn't really warm up until two weeks ago. There are some big fat bumblebees around and the occasional wasp lookig for somewhere to nest, but no butterflies or dragonflies yet.

Our car windscreen has been a lot cleaner recently. More so in previous years

I'm in the south west. Alarmingly few insects. We have an azalea heavily in flower and we have quite a few bees on that and on the foxgloves and a few other shrubs but there are few other insects of any kind. I saw a couple of dead bees immediately after one of those awful downpours we have now.

There is a street lamp outside of our house which has one or two moths but nothing like the horde there would once have been. We would normally have a number of swifts and swallows by now but I saw just 2 swallows on a wire today.

I think we all know the climate is changing, I worry about pollination too.

I used to pull up Herb Robert but leave it now when I realised how popular it is with bees. It is a bit of a stinky plant though!

My garden in s somerset is full of insects including ladybirds and hover flies. I made the garden for insects and they love it. No lawn but other ground cover

My garden is fairing well.. I have a Cottoneaster in flower, dozens of Bees at least 4 diffent types spending days on it. Plus I have big Bubble bees, and Morter Bees buzzing around, I was watching them going into little holes in my wall.
Also seen Butterflies, beetles and ladybirds just today when gardening, and the dreaded lily beetle still present.
Sure I saw a Bat the other night too, so insects are around here on the South Coast.

Loads of bees here too, along with ladybirds, butterflies, and blooming lily beetles that I am in a state of war with.

Ps A weed is only a plant in the wrong place.

It is a very pretty weed!

PS Love Herb Robert

That sounds like a good plan of your DH's, Calli!

Masses of bees here, both bumbles and honey-bees. The cowberry was completely abuzz yesterday. Also, as usual, masses of midges (held off today by a good breeze) and loads of ticks.

Today I found this lovely moth. It's a Petrophora clarosata (Brown silver-line) and its larvae feed on bracken so we hope it has lots of friends to help us tackle bracken invasions from the field alongside us.

Baggs

Sparrows main foods are grains and seeds, but they like everything pretty much.

The sparrows (mainly) seem to demolish three full feeders of seed in a day but then DH says he'll leave them empty the next day, hoping they'll eat the ants.

Starlings have arrived, pecking away on the lawn.

I did some weeding yesterday but decided to leave the Herb Robert in the borders because it's flowering and the few bees seem to love it.

It wasn't been very warm yet so let's hope we see more bees soon.

Out in our garden in Northumberland I've seen bumblebees, honey bees and a few orange tip butterflies. Something must be pollinating as we have loads of crab apples and cherries forming.

Red admiral!!

No problem here on the South Downs.

Butterflies I’ve seen to date include, brimstone, peacock, common or maybe holly blue, speckled wood and red Moths, but I’m not very familiar with their lovely names.

Lily beetles, lady birds, hover flies, bumbles of various sorts, shield bugs, amongst loads of others.

I never spray and leave the aphids, caterpillar etc for the birds.

So not sure what is happening near you? If you are near farm land, has the farmer been spraying?

Sparrows main foods are grains and seeds, but they like everything pretty much.

sassysayso We get fox cubs too when it's sunny. Adult brought three last year to play in the longer grass at the bottom of the garden. Haven't seen them this year but have had an adult walking through, so maybe when it gets a bit warmer/drier they'll come out.

We've seen lots of bees both at home and in public spaces (Surrey). Our garden is full of young birds - starlings, great tits, blue tits, robins, collared doves, blackbirds and some jackdaws. We saw our first thrush of the year yesterday. Unfortunately there are also the usual mosquitos. We watched a young robin a few days ago fighting to get a worm out of the lawn and there were plenty of beetles and spiders around the patio when we weeded it. I've seen a few butterflies, but I never see that many so I don't know if that has changed. Some big moths around too. One in the bedroom last night disappeared before I could catch it and I think it may have taken refuge in my coats

Well I am glad there are some around!<

I saw something this morning I have never seen before, a mother sparrow getting seed from the bird feeder and feeding it to her two fledglings sitting on the rose arch. Surely their diet would normally be insects?

That's strange. We're in the south-east (Hertfordshire) and I was only saying to OH yesterday that I've never seen so many bees as we have had on the foxgloves, geum, heuchera, allium, thyme and chives.

Haven't seen many butterflies this year, though.

I blame the weather- the insects have more sense than to come out when it's so cold!

Hardly anything here in the south west either. I have a log pile which is meant to attract beetles but there is nothing there. Same with the bug hotel - nothing in it. I am very worried. I remember the time I went indoors as there were so many insects swarming around. Not any more. I got quite excited yesterday as there was one bee on the flowers. Considering the number of wild flowers now being planted and also in many places left to grow by the roadside, what is happening!