So many insects

[Jungle Jane]

It does work except you need a lot of them,if there’s a gap where they can land on a plant to lay eggs they will. It’s interesting watching the butterflies hover over the pretend butterflies,they keep a distance from them & can’t lower down to the plant. It wouldn’t work with moths though?

[Jay-ell]

Ive been making cabbage white butterflies using an old school shirt,string & a bamboo stick. I saw the first real CWB in the garden today so I got out there with these for protection of my rocket & swede,their eyesights not very good they think these are real (I've made it look like a family with two young ones & a bit battered looking like it’s ready for a fight if any other CWB come near) it’s worth it to avoid removing eggs every day even if the neighbours do see them & think what has she made she’s a bit mad or they might think they look attractive very Chelsea garden style

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Do these work? I would have thought that the young ones would be bits of green string.

There's loads of ladybugs and their larvae on the plot. Plus masses of centipedes although I don't recall seeing ant black beetles so far.

[Workslave]

I did do that survey, thanks,
for the question how many, the highest number was 30+ so it was nice to put "10's of thousands of them" in the comment section.
Really is a weird year all round..
Sincerely
Steve

[Gillykat]

I've definitely got a lot more bumblebees around this year. Wasps too which I don't mind. Not so many hoverflies though which is bizarre? And butterflies have been quite thin on the ground this past few weeks - I've had the odd Painted Lady and Red Admiral around but hardly any whites. I'm putting it down to the bizarre weather!

[Jungle Jane]

I just saw a cabbage white go from one end of my garden to the other,it knows where my plants are but just did a fly by of both areas,didn’t stop,tricked by the pretend butterflies. There’s been a massive amount of hoverflies here,always near my head on a flower,I don’t know if it’s because of my leek flowers or because they know there’s a mass aphid population here,this is my rocket today still safe -

[Workslave]

Have seen a lot of these cinnabar moth caterpillars recently
Sincerely
Steve

[bikermike]

Oh that's what they are. There seem to be quite few on my plot. All on weeds, so i'm happy to let them carry on.

Do they have preferred leaves? I'd like to move a couple....

[Snoop Puss]

We have lots of these this year:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brintesia
I've never noticed them before.

Earlier in the year, we had lots of scarce swallowtails and common blue. Beautiful butterflies.
But I've hardly seen any of the assorted brown with dots butterflies that we get here and virtually no Cleopatra butterflies, which we usually get a lot of, especially very early in the year. Perhaps the cold spring did for them.

[Gillykat]

....although I don't recall seeing any black beetles so far.

That's cos I have them all! They like lots of ground cover to hide under....definitely something my allotment has plenty of

Since my last comment the butterfly numbers have picked up! Today I was on the plot tidying up and the two buddleia shrubs were covered in Peacock (15+), Red Admiral (6), Large White (12+), a few Small White, couple of Painted Lady and a single Wall Brown. Unusually I haven't seen 'my' Speckled Wood or Comma yet. Loads of Bumblebees and Hoverflies out too....the plot was buzzing!

[Gillykat]

Star of the day though was the Holy Grail (to me!) of caterpillars - Elephant Hawk Moth!!!

I was clearing all the weeds from around my Joan J raspberries and there it was! I think I may have squeaked with excitement!!! I saw my first one when a schoolmate brought one in for the nature table in 1976. I was 8 years old then. Today was only my second ever sighting and my first found....at the ripe old age of 51 years!

I've brought it home, put it in a vivarium with lots of willowherb and raspberry leaves and it's happily chomping away. I don't think it's fully grown yet but when it is it'll pupate in the compost I've put on the bottom and, I think, overwinter as a pupa. Once it emerges I'll release it back on the allotment. Neil was pretty gobsmacked at the size of it!

I took a photo but Flickr is playing up so I'll try to upload it later...

[toomanytommytoes]

Star of the day though was the Holy Grail (to me!) of caterpillars - Elephant Hawk Moth!!!

Interesting, I found one of these lying on the patio yesterday evening. Not entirely sure how it got there! First time I saw one I thought it was a snake Last year they were munching on the potted fuschias.

[Snoop Puss]

^^ Never seen one of those. It's a beautiful moth, and what an impressive caterpillar. Good luck.

[veggiechicken]

Gilly, has he sat up and begged for you yet?

[Aberdeenplotter]

Insects can take a hike. I was in my plot yesterday and I'm being bitten to bits today. Can't find what's doing the biting either (

[Nannysally99]

Noticed many more bees and butterflies in our garden this year
Our new border is now 3 years old and the plants that attract them are maturing nicely
We also have lots if bedding plants and chrysanthemums to keep their interest
No ladybirds at all to my knowledge