Here are some insects commonly seen around allotments… if you look carefully enough. Can you name them? To see the answer highlight the section between the asterisks.
If you see this you’ll think you’ve found something rare and exotic, and twenty years or more ago you’d have been right, but with warming climates this spectacular creature is becoming more common in southern England, emigrating in spring and autumn to and from southern Europe.
It hovers, probing flowers with its long proboscis for nectar. The wings beat so fast they make an audible hum. Favourite flowers are honeysuckle and buddleia and the stronger the sunshine, the more likely you are to see it active.
Answer: * Hummingbird hawk moth *
Best known for it’s nymph stage, you’ll definitely recognise the masses of frothed up plant sap, or cuckoo spit, on plant stems. This protects the larva from predators as it feeds on young leaves and shoots, stops it from drying out and protects from extremes of temperature. The larva produces the froth by forcing air into a fluid exuded from its bottom.
Small and brown, this insect can jump great distances if threatened. A flea is supposedly the world champion leaper, but this beats it hands down.
Answer: * Froghopper *
Large and hairy, this insect is generally black with varying degrees of yellow banding. The queen hibernates underground during the winter, emerging in spring to find a suitable nest sites, for example abandoned mouse holes, and builds a nest of dried grasses before laying about a dozen eggs that hatch into sterile females.
These gather pollen and nectar to feed later batches of grubs. New queens and males hatch at the end of the season and mate, and the males, workers and old queens then die with new queens hibernating. These insects are not aggressive and will only sting if they feel threatened.
Answer: * Bumblebee *
Changing to green-bronze in autumn with its wing tips staying dark brown, adults hibernate in grass tussocks or leaf litter and emerge in May. Females lay clusters of small, barrel-shaped eggs on the undersides of leaves which hatch into wingless nymphs that crawl between plants to feed.
These bugs can often be seen basking in the sun during late summer before they hibernate. Both adults and nymphs suck plant sap. It produces a pungent odour from special glands if handled or disturbed.
Answer: * Green shield bug (or green stink bug) *
At first glance you could mistake this creature for an earwig. A nocturnal predator, it lives in and around decaying matter. During the day it tends to rest among leaf litter or under stones. Females lay their eggs in the soil, and these hatch into carnivorous larvae.
It overwinters as a pupa in leaf litter or moss and emerges as an adult the following spring. If disturbed it adopts an aggressive, scorpion-like position, raising its rear end and opening its powerful jaws. If it still feels threatened it squirts a foul-smelling fluid from its abdomen. Beware, this beetle can also give a painful bite.
Answer: * Devil’s coach horse *
Males have pale violet-blue upper wings with grey-beige undersides, but females have mainly brown upper wings. With commonly two broods of eggs laid in June, then August or September, caterpillars hibernate and pupate in April and May giving rise to adults in May and June.
The caterpillars are short, green and furry. They feed on the underside of young leaves, leaving the upper leaf epidermis intact. This creates silvery blotches on the leaves that are easy to spot. They secrete nutrient-containing substances that attract ants. In turn, the ants protect the caterpillar from predators.
Answer: * Common blue butterfly *
When threatened this beetle can flick itself into the air emitting an audible click by flexing the joint between its thorax and abdomen; the tension increases until the peg slips, catapulting the insect into the air. The beetle may not always land on its feet, so will perform this feat several times until it does. It can jump as high as 30 cm.
The larvae are despised by gardeners. About 25 mm long with shiny, yellow-orange bodies, they spend up to four years underground munching through plant roots and stem bases until pupating and emerging as adults. They can ruin potato and root crops.
Answer: * Click beetle *
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