The Goodies

          

 

 

Blue Tits

 During winter, tits search for food, including aphid eggs that are found in and under bark.  If you hang a small amount of fat or bacon on a string near roses or soft fruit bushes, the tits that cannot find a place on the fat will search for aphid eggs.

Many other birds eat insects, try setting up bird boxes to encourage them to the garden. More information

Hoverflies

 They look like wasps, with their yellow and black markings, and have a habit of hovering by open flowers, where they feed on nectar and pollen.  They also feed on aphids – both adults and larvae eat huge numbers.  By providing plants such as poached egg (Limnanthes douglasii) that attract them, you can help increase the number of hoverflies in your garden  
Ground Beetles These shiny, blackish brown beetles are predators on other insects. Ground beetles have well developed mandibles, but are not known to bite people. They use their strong mouthparts to devour other insects. The larval stages of ground beetles are also predators on insects, but they live in the grass and soil around the house.
Centipedes Centipedes have pair of poison claws behind the head and use the poison to paralyze their prey, usually small insects. However, the jaws of centipedes are weak and can rarely penetrate human skin.
Lacewings Four membranous wings with forewings and hindwings about the same size; wings usually held rooflike along abdomen; wings usually with many veins and with numerous crossveins.  Lacewings can consume a vast number of aphids.  For a picture of a lacewing box go to the Photo Centre of RG and click on Natural World Album.  Page 2. lacewing.jpg (38328 bytes) lacewinggrub.jpg (49535 bytes)
Hedgehog Everyone knows what a hedgehog looks like and that it can eat many of the baddies in our garden.  More information on hedgehogs. How to make a hedgehog hibernation box.
Wasps Many wasps can eat pests, including the small parasitic types.
Ladybirds There are 43 different types of ladybird in Britain. They are usually bright red but sometimes we see yellow ones.   In Britain, ladybirds sleep through the winter. In the spring, ladybirds lay eggs next to lots of greenflies. The eggs hatch in 1 week and the babies start eating the greenflies. Ladybirds live about one year.