fly away home.... might be the last thing most of us gardeners would be saying - this little insect might be small, but does an amazing job in the garden in helping to keep pests at bay! I've discovered in my little bit of research on this Seven-spot Ladybird / Coccinella 7-punctata that despite being commonly found in both the UK and Europe that one ladybird is known to eat as many as 5000 aphids in it's year long life! I was doing a spot of gardening today whilst nursing a rather sore back - silly I know but try and keep me away when it's so pleasant outside - no rain and really mild... what more could you want in the middle of November other than no bad back of course!!
Anyway - I decided to cut back the dead stems of the large mass of Golden Rod /Solidago which is underplanted with a lovely collection of spring Primula and Iris (one of the surprises I discovered beneath the piles of brambles we cleared when we arrived). Taking time to look at the small detail at ground level when you start to clear away the dead plant matter, it's amazing what life goes on behind the scenes as it were - do take time to enjoy this side of your gardens too - all this small detail is what supports a successful garden - without all these little insects beavering away in the background many of our gardens would not look the way they do and a great many of the small mammals and birds that inhabit our gardens would cease to survive.... think of all those juicy green caterpillars which the little Blue Tit relies on to feed it's hungry broods in the Spring - this alone is just one example!
It's so easy to focus on the big blooms and all the lovely birds but this little chap gets a bit overlooked ... so thought he deserved a posting all of his own.....Oh, I just wanted to mention - very exciting after all the chat about Goldcrests being stranded in Norway - I did actually spot the first one of the season searching for food in our large Box Shrub on the edge of the woodland... what are other people's experiences so far?
Enjoy your week...
6 comments:
Hi Miranda....nice post on the ladybird......I have had an abundance this year...they have tried to get into the house, I removed around 100. I put them in a hibernation unit that I have in one of the shrubs.
Goldcrests are beautiful birds...how lovely to have one in your woodland.
I have a charm of Goldfinch in the garden at the moment and saw a kingfisher amongst the grasses. We have two rivers close by, he must have just dropped by to see what was in our pond.
Have a good week. I am cutting hedges back at the moment......tiring but rewarding.
Never knew one ladybug could eat so much in one season! We get ladybugs here and find them all winter, the the house, sheds where ever they can hide away.
Check out my blog I have a cute cartoon type video of a lady bug beetle bombing dragonflies.
Dear Cheryl...always a pleasure to have you visit my blog - amazed to hear of the numbers of Ladybirds you have as I rarely seem to see them here - maybe it's because the farmers put so much pesticide on the crops? At least this little one escaped!
How exciting to have a Kingfisher visit - I've seen one over here at a garden I do that is an old Mill House and they fly in over the millpond. We also had one Goldfinch this week which is also quite rare here - so enjoy all of yours!
As an aside I wonder if you watched the Enid Blyton drama last night on BBC4 - it was wonderful... must admit as a child I loved her books - life being one big adventure... hope you manage all your hedge cutting - I must admit i've done a lot of ours here and for clients already which is a big relief! I've still got planting to do though... take care Miranda
Hi Randy - always good to welcome someone new to my blog and glad you liked the posting - makes a nice contrast to yours with the video clip - which I must admit I really enjoyed.. I've infact added your blog to my list - hope that's okay... enjoy your week raking leaves and all the other jobs I'm sure there are to do in your part of the world at this time of year... Miranda
They are one of the few insects that nearly everyone can recognise. One of my favourites. They have disappeared here so must be laying low over the winter in some dry spot.
Thanks for popping over Easygardener - I love the Ladybird too - we've not had many that I've spotted in our garden - maybe they're all hiding!?
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