What you could find in your garden, if you look?
When you are next out in the garden in your flower borders
admiring the flowers, have a look for some tiny, medium and large stripy
insects. These insects are not just endemic to this country in fact you can
find them anywhere across globe. There are 280+ species that have colonised
Britain since the last ice age, moving north as the ice sheet retreated. Varieties that visit our gardens are often very colourful
but they will not sting you. They have big eyes relative to body size enabling
them to fly away as you approach them, especially if you create a shadow over
their ocelli (a triangle of light sensitive cells at the top of their head).
If you don't disturb them the males will often sit basking in the sun patiently
waiting for a lady to come by or a rival who will need fending-off. You might
see an orange and black abdomen type scuttling from side to side on a leaf like
a crab, or one with big bright red eyes. If you find some aphids on your plants
look closely you might find a grub nearby farming the aphid's sugary excrement.
But most likely you will see an insect that resembles a bee or wasp, but you
would be wrong to think that's what they were.
