Protecting our Insects

In recent years, we have all come to realise the importance of a good balance of nature in a garden. We no longer wish to use pesticides or slug pellets, which are harmful to insects, birds and small mammals.  Bees are in decline and yet we can all play our part to make a genuine difference, by changing the way we garden in even the smallest ways. Beetles, birds and frogs will eat slugs and snails, greenfly on the roses and so on.  We should let this wonderful balance in nature do what it is supposed to, with us gardeners working alongside, not against.



In the Rose Garden, and the shrub beds and long border, we are making a conscious effort to select plants which are of benefit to pollinators. Providing flowering plants from January through  to November so there is always pollen and nectar available. In Autumn we leave plants to die back and  provide shelter and food for wildlife in terms of seeds, rose hips and cover for spiders and insects and caterpillars. If every garden in the country followed these same principles then that would provide a huge resource for our wildlife.



As part of the school syllabus, many primary schools do a study of Minibeasts. We have seen schools visiting the Rose Garden and Quarry as part of this study. With this in mind, our volunteers have created a bug hotel, to help create a place of shelter for insects of all kinds.  You can do this on a smaller scale in your own gardens.  Leave a pile of rotting logs in a quiet corner, create a compost heap, stack some bricks with gaps between for frogs and woodlice and beetles etc.
We hope our bug hotel will be added to with dead hollow stems, fir cones, straw.  Perhaps the schoolchildren can collect materials to add when they visit.  Why not build a bug shelter in your garden, it's great fun for you and just great for insects!