Insects - where are they?

Plenty here I was walking with my daughter yesterday evening and were bee bombed by loads of bees

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Coincidentally my husband and I were discussing the lack of insects on the car windscreen just this afternoon and remembering how we used to have to wash them off after long summer journeys.

Our front garden was left un-mown in May, but we did ‘no mow May’ from February to June in the back garden - in fact we only cut the grass a week ago. Unfortunately the soil in the back garden is really good, so not really great for wildflowers; we’re about to swap it for the soil from the front garden, which isn’t so fertile. Both gardens are planted to attract ‘birds, bees, butterflies and bugs’ as my grandson says.

Our allotment has also been full of insects, butterflies and moths this year. The blossom has been spectacular and has attracted lots of pollinators. Just yesterday I spotted a beautiful Cinnabar Moth on the raspberries.

It's a good splash of colour.

Yes it is, calli.

Baggs

*Dilly*, here are a few bits. The first is of part of the front lawn taken on 25 May. The flowers are daisies and Yellow pimpernel but there are leaves of various other flowers there too, such as wild angelica which flowers later.

The second was taken 1 June and shows pignut in part of the back garden.

Third taken 6 June showing pignut and orange hawkweed, with heath bedstraw beneath them.

I've just realised that orange hawkweed is what I call fox and cubs.

dead bees

Oldbat1

The local farmer was in his fields spraying earlier this week. I walk my dog down the public footpath and also on the pavement next to the road and have been so upset at the number of bees Ive seen dead and dying since the spraying. I must admit when I saw him spraying I turned round and went home because I didn’t want to breath in the pesticide.

I've seen some pictures on FB of dead pees.

If a farmer or anyone has to spray then they should do so late evening or night-time when the bees have gone back to their hives.

Baggs thank you for posting, what a beautiful garden and array of wild flowers, it reminds me of the wonderful ‘Flower Fairy’s’ books.

Was this established when you brought the property? Or was it letting bits take hold with the seeds already being in the soil?

This is a screenshot ofthe part where most of the Northern Marsh Orchids are. It's a sceenshot out of a 10sec video which I don't seem to be able to upload to Gransnet

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Dilly, here are a few bits. The first is of part of the front lawn taken on 25 May. The flowers are daisies and Yellow pimpernel but there are leaves of various other flowers there too, such as wild angelica which flowers later.

The second was taken 1 June and shows pignut in part of the back garden.

Third taken 6 June showing pignut and orange hawkweed, with heath bedstraw beneath them.

The local farmer was in his fields spraying earlier this week. I walk my dog down the public footpath and also on the pavement next to the road and have been so upset at the number of bees Ive seen dead and dying since the spraying. I must admit when I saw him spraying I turned round and went home because I didn’t want to breath in the pesticide.

Wildflowers don't need very fertile soil, btw.

I've found some species of wildflower eg fox and cubs, daisy, dandelions will grow if I leave part of our lawn unmowed but the soil is very poor.
Advice from a neighbour was that the prettier wild flowers eg poppies, cornflowers, oxeye daisy, need richer, looser soil as they grow well in ploughed fields.

Baggs good point. I was thinking of contacting our local NT gardener who is very friendly and asking what mix he’d advise as I know NT have been ‘re meadowing’ some of their properties.
It’s the design I’m trying to work out, I use my back garden for garden parties, so need spaces that can have our swing chair and sets out, that are mowed but have areas that are more ‘wild’. I haven’t been able to find any examples for humble sized backgardens.
Do you have any pictures of your meadowland? I’d love to see.

PS I haven't had to plant anything in my garden. We just let it grow. I think it is a patch of ancient meadow/pasture so the seeds are already there in the soil.

Wildflowers don't need very fertile soil, btw.

DillytheGardener

Has anyone tried planting part of their lawn in meadow flowers, I didn’t do ‘no mow may, but was thinking a pretty area of flowers would be a more palatable compromise to attract insects. No one in my gardening club has tried one so I’m yet to see how to build it into a design for a average back garden.

That's a good idea, dilly, but please make sure you plant native species. Most "seed bomb" efforts are full of non-native wildflowers. Botanists tend to say they are not a good idea because native insects don't recognise them. That said, Himalayan Balsam, which counts as an invasive non-native, is very popular with bumblebees.

Good luck anyway.

Has anyone tried planting part of their lawn in meadow flowers, I didn’t do ‘no mow may, but was thinking a pretty area of flowers would be a more palatable compromise to attract insects. No one in my gardening club has tried one so I’m yet to see how to build it into a design for a average back garden.

the use of insecticides is largely to blame. Remember years ago, when insects used to be on the windscreen of a car after a long drive? That's why there are fewer birds around too. (A keen bird-watcher told me that recently)

Sadly in my garden teaming with flowers planted to attract bees and butterflies and an insect ‘palace’ son and dil bought, is very quiet, I haven’t seen a butterfly that I can remember. Same goes for the big NT parklands I walk my dogs in. Not much insect life to see there either.

I have taken to planting up every space I can. Even under privet and leyllandi hedging. I put any spent compost from hanging baskets, tubs and potato sack there and plant left over seedlings, divided plants and so seeds of things like Honesty. It’s all a bit of a mixture, but lots of the plants grow and flower.
In the spring I have bulbs and any cheap polyanthus.

Found it!!

Good lord I don’t know at all baggs,I am not at all au fait with most plant life but when I see it again I will take a photo and save this thread and then upload it ?

?

Could they have been a hawkweed or Cat's-ear, shinamae.

When I was a child these small wildflowers were always covered in yellow and black caterpillars, not anymore ? cannot find photo at the moment but they were like a small dandelion

We have had more butterflies than usual this year, especially Orange-tips, which may be partly because I'm letting wild flowers grow and there are lots of cuckoo flowers. I've checked and many of them have the butterfly eggs on them so I'll leave them to get on with what comes next.

We also have about 120 Northern Marsh Orchids in the garden and gazillions of meadow buttercups, which last seem to be beloved by micro-moths. Other insect welcoming flowers we have are pignut in abundance, Heath Bedstraw ditto, with hogweed, whorled caraway and ragwort (which I do limit or it'd take over), sorrel, and more still to flower. Encouragement of native wildflowers is the way to go, I think.

My climbing Albertine rose flowers generally have lots of insects in them and, hate them for the monsters they are, but Rhododendron ponticums really buzz with bumblebees and honey bees.

No cleg bites yet this year but loads of midge bites, though the midge jacket is out now so I'll wear that for protection when gardening. Only about 15 tick bites so far; by this time last year I'd had more than fifty! They aren't insects, I know, but they might as well be biting-wise!!

We've also noticed more splattered insects on the car this year. I hope this is a turn up. Check out #wildflowerhour on a Sunday evening on Twitter. It's great.