Insects galore

With the temperature nudging up very close to 100 a week or so back, insect life on the farm has been abundant. The leek heads and umbellifers (fennel, parsnips left to flower and lovage) are covered in bees, hoverflies, flies and other bugs.

At night-time, leave the windows open and a light on and the upstairs hall becomes a giant moth trap.

So I have started taking snaps of some of the insects that I notice. Identifying them takes quite a bit of time, especially as I often don't really know where to start. It's surprising how often a Google image search for something like 'spotty red beetle yellow antennae uk' comes up trumps!
But even better, a new button which recently appeared on Google Photos on my phone finds matching images on the internet. Over 50% of the time it has left me straight to an identification, and if not it often gets me looking at the right insect family.

I find insects absolutely amazing. They come in so many forms, with a multitude of appendages, fascinating life cycles, in all shapes and colours. If they were the size of humans they would put Doctor Who's range of alien baddies to shame.

Of course, I welcome (most) insects into the garden (althought the weevils which I found by the dozen inside my calabrese heads the other day were not quite so welcome.

The weevil that munched my calabrese!(left)

A freshly opened globe artichoke flower with honey bees burrowing down to get at the pollen.

But at the end of the day there are two approaches to take with bugs. Either aim to wipe them all out, goodies and baddies, as industrial scale farmers mostly do, or let nature help with growing. Ground beetles, ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies in particular are predators which help control other insects, and slugs in the case of beetles. Yes, there may be the occasional population explosion of some insect which all but ruins a crop, but it's never a total disaster and nature rebalances itself in the end. Of course I give a helping hand by growing plants and flowers specifically to attract or repel certain insects. I use physical barriers (netting) too where this is unavoidable, and I give my plants a healthy and organic soil to grow in so they can withstand attack.

Anyway, onto the good bit, the photos. It's not all about what helps the veg to grow. It's about creating a wonderful space in which to work and occasionally stop to admire the hive of activity going on about you.

So most days now I try to meet and snap a new insect. Here are just a few of them. I won't go all Latin on you with the names. Better to just admire them in blissful ignorance, though I do like to put a name to them if I can and do a little research on their habits.

Moths in many forms flumble (flutter and stumble) into the upstairs hallway.

Top left - One of many hoverfly species - this was a giant. 

Meanwhile a bumblebee visits one of my sunflowers

Comma is one of my favourite butterflies, though the sight of
ragwort in full flower and covered in Ringlets stopped me in my tracks

Marmalade Hoverflies and a  

Swollen-thighed Beetle (aka Thick-legged Flower Beetle or False Oil Beetle)

I initially thought this was a spider until I realised I was looking

at it the wrong way round and it was a fly.

But the way it moved was clearly aimed at deception.

Yellow Dung Fly                                       Noon Fly