National Insect Week

Last week was National Insect Week, held every two years to encourage people to be more aware of them and their importance to the world around us. There are 24,000 species of insect in the UK alone so it seems appropriate to post a few pictures of a variety of insects that I have seen recently in my garden or around the local lanes.Often dismissed by people as a nuisance or uninteresting, they are vital to the ecology of our world.

I disturbed this delicate looking White plumed moth as I did some weeding in the garden. It would normally be flying at dusk but soon resettled on some teasels which are coincidentally providing some bindweed with a climbing structure. Interestingly the food source for the caterpillar of  this moth is bindweed!.

 

There are plenty of hoverflies about at the moment and this one, a Marmalade hoverfly I believe, is quite well camouflaged on this marigold as it feeds.

Bees are working hard at the moment pollinating our crops by gathering nectar and pollen and they home in on any flower that can offer both. We may curse the brambles that invade our gardens and seem to grow very quickly overnight but the flowers are a welcome sight for bees and other insects. Also, come August / September, we get the benefit of foraging for the blackberries for autumn fruit pies!

Grasshoppers and crickets are more often heard rather than seen, but it is worth looking out for them in long grasses if only to see how impressively high they can jump! This is a cricket, identified by its long antennae, the grasshoppers usually having short antennae. Unfortunately it didn't stay still long enough to get a side view to see if it had any markings to work out what type of cricket it was. In researching some information about grasshoppers and crickets I have discovered that it is possible to use a bat detector to determine particular species that make sounds at different frequencies just like bats do. Next time I go looking for them I will take my detector with me!