Attracting insects
APRIL is a wonderful month for enjoying the wildlife in your garden. Following on from the Brimstones and Peacocks of March, by the end of this month you should have hopefully seen the first male Orange-tip butterflies (unless you live in the far north of Scotland) dashing around looking for a female which, in turn, will be looking for places to lay her eggs. A really simple thing you can do in your garden to encourage Orange-tips is plant patches of Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis) and Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) – or leave them uncut if you already have them – as these are two of the species’ favourite larval foodplants.
Different butterfly and moth species choose from a diverse range of plants on which to lay their eggs and it certainly pays to familiarise yourself with some of the flora which attract the most species. Nettles often get (rightly) celebrated as being worthy of nurturing in a corner of the garden for Red Admirals, Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells, for example, but it’s worth bearing in mind that some light trimming of at least some of the nettles midway through the growing season (June-July) will help to benefit those species which prefer to lay their eggs on fresh growth.
Wildflower patches or meadows are often talked about as being beneficial for pollinators, which of course they are, but don’t be fooled into thinking they need to be a riot of flowering colour right through the season. Flowers are very aesthetically pleasing for us and attract pollinating insects, but just as important in a garden or any greenspace are the larval foodplants. Different meadows will vary in terms of their grass to herb (flowering plant) ratio but around 20-30% wildflowers and 70-80% grass is fairly standard in meadow seed mixes. Indeed, the various grass species in a wild patch of your lawn should not be underestimated for their wildlife value, as several butterfly species, including Meadow
Brown, Marbled White, Ringlet, Small and Essex Skippers and Speckled Wood, may be tempted to lay eggs in these areas, as will many moth species.
At this time of year I always like to plant Nasturtiums, primarily as a kind of ‘sacrificial crop’ for Large, Small and Green-veined Whites. This is especially worth considering doing if you worry about the caterpillars eating your brassicas!
Of course, every beneficial action in nature has its place in the onward chain or trophic cascade and invertebrates are a crucial element towards the bottom of many such food chains. It may sound obvious, but by planting species in your garden that attract insects both for pollination and egg-laying purposes you will also indirectly benefit everything which may then feed on those insects, namely birds and bats. Moth enthusiasts tend to get a bit upset when moths are talked about as though they are nothing but bat food, but there is no getting away from the fact that if you plant lots of lovely night-flowering, scented plants such as Evening Primrose, Sweet Rocket, Honeysuckle and Night-flowering Catchfly, you will attract lots of moths, which will in turn attract bats. Also, don’t underestimate the pollinating power of moths! Some studies experimenting with covering the same plants during the day and again at night found that the pollination rates were on average much higher at night compared to during the day.
If you want to find out more about larval foodplants for moths and butterflies there are various great resources out there, including the excellent Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland by Paul Waring and Martin Townsend, and the UK Butterflies website (www.ukbutterflies.co.uk).