We've had lots of visitors to our allotment, some more welcome than others! I have managed to snap a few of them and this is where I'll put the photos that turn out well. Our plot is at the end of the centre aisle and is backed by a hedge between the allotments and the canal towpath.
Each year we seem to be defending against different things - other than the weather!
Rabbit/deer fencing was installed at the beginning of 2010 so that's a couple of threats removed, but there are plenty of other visitors which are less easy to deal with!
Beetles (and bugs) |
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| There are masses of ladybirds all over the plot. Mostly 7-spot, but also lots of different versions of harlequin ladybird which is apparently taking over the traditional UK ladybird, but some are very pretty and they all clear aphids so aren't all bad! |
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| These are chafer larvae - not too sure whether they'd all grow into the same bug... |
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| This is a garden chafer |
Another larvae |
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| This is a type of tortoise beetle, but there are loads of different ones |
This excellent little beetle nymph will eventually grow into a Pied Shieldbug |
This chap with a loveheart is a Cantharis Rustica - a type of soldier beetle |
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This is another shieldbug, specifically a Sloe Bug - but he's sitting on our environmesh here |
These pollinator beetles swamped our squash flowers |
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Caterpillars, Butterflies and moths |
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| This Knot Grass Moth caterpillar had great camouflage in our marigolds |
This is a caterpillar of the cinnabar moth. They tend to feed on ragwort and not our veg
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This seems to be the caterpillar of the White Ermine moth - he was crawling all round the plot. |
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| This is the eggs of the large white butterfly (small whites lay individual eggs) |
A caterpillar of the small white - sitting on a sprout leaf! |
This is either a small white or a green-veined white |
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| The large white butterfly caterpillars dessimated the leaves on our sprouts |
The small tortoiseshell tends to lay it's eggs on nettles so we have lots of these on site but they're not a problem |
This is the Scarlet Tiger, which has lovely red wings under the top layer |
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Bees and Wasps (and a hoverfly) |
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| I can't tell the difference between the different bees, but I'm sure these are bumblebees! |
This is a honeybee making a hole through the back of the nectary of the flower, getting to the nectar, but bypassing the pollen and not pollinating the flower |
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| Another bee, but multi-layered marigolds aren't good for pollen gathering |
A little black and white bee |
Here'is a wasp getting to the coriander flowers through the carrot netting. |
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A hoverfly, which is a really useful pollinator |
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Birds |
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| Pheasants were a big problem before the fencing but we haven't seen so many since that was erected |
Pigeons are pretty much public enemy number 1! Brassicas and peas don't stand a chance with no additional netting |
Aah, little Robby :-) There are lots of robins living in the hedges and are happy to hop between our feet to pick out worms |
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| We were feeding worms to this blackbird chick |
Aw, this was a sad little greenfinch. He wasn't very well and mostly just sat in our borage |
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Other Wildlife... |
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| A leatherjacket - larva of the crane fly |
This freaky thing is a Speckled Bush Cricket |
These are the cabbage white flies making a mess of our brassicas :-( |
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| I think this is a common field grasshopper. He was quite happy sitting on Jamie's leg for a while. |
This long centipede - Geophilus carpophagus - can eat baby earthworms :-( |
Baby certipedes growing up on our broad beans - the eggs must have been laid in there |
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Quite a small millipede |
