Unsung heroes of pollination
Take a few moments on a sunny day to watch your flowerbeds. Solitary bees and hoverflies can be speedy compared to the lumbering hulks of bumblebees, so approach with stealth. Take care not to make sudden movements or to cast your shadow over them.
● Solitary bees can be the size of a honeybee (5-15mm), but some are very tiny indeed, with wings only about 3mm in length. They’re only interested in gathering supplies of pollen and nectar. Each female will deposit the food she collects in special nest cells, either in the ground or in hollow plant stems, where she will lay eggs and her grubs will develop without further help. The term ‘solitary’ relates to the fact that the females don’t work as a coordinated colony.
● Hoverflies live individual existences. The larvae of many species are excellent natural controllers of greenfly, but that’s not always the case. In some species, their young live in water, while in others they live in bee and wasp nests. Very few are crop pests, eating plant bulbs. Some people are nervous of hoverflies because they look a bit like wasps, but hoverflies can’t sting. Their stripy gold and black costume is just to try to avoid being eaten by birds.
● Flies The house fly may not be our favourite insect, but there are hundreds of other outdoor species that are vital in food chains. For instance, they’re key pollinators of plants in the carrot family.
● Moths Just because most of them are active at night doesn’t mean moths aren’t valuable pollinators. In fact, some flowers, such as tobacco plant Nicotiana sylvestris have
evolved to employ the services of long-tongued moths.
● Solitary wasps Just as there are little-known solitary bees, so there are lots of little, unobtrusive wasp species, quite different to the social wasps we all know (and few of us love!).
● Beetles Several types of beetle visit flowers, of which perhaps the most curious is the thick-legged flower beetle, complete with knobbly knees.
● Birds Yes, even some birds get in on the act. Every year we hear of ‘orange-headed sparrows’ supping sweet nectar at red-hot pokers (kniphofia).