BUTTERFLY-FRIENDLY WILDFLOWERS FROM LADYBURN NATIVE PLANT NURSERY - Blog

Biodiversity means insects as well as flowers

8/13/2021

Our Purple Loosestrife is growing vigorously, with no blemishes, not a trace of insect damage to the leaves. Our customers will be delighted. But is the absence of resident insects on wildflowers a good thing or bad? Surely biodiversity is more than just wildflowers, it includes the insects that normally feed on them.

The protective chemicals produced by Purple Loosestrife are enough to deter almost all insects, but three species have managed to break through the defences, the Black-margined Loosestrife Beetle (Gallerucella calmariensis) and Golden Loosestrife Beetle (Gallerucella pusella), and a weevil, Hylobus transversovittalus. They are common throughout the UK, are found wherever Purple Loosestrife grows and feed on virtually nothing else. As a result they keep this vigorously growing plant in check so that it rarely becomes particularly invasive.
But if these insects are not present we are faced with a very different situation as wetland enthusiasts in North America are well aware. Imported by accident and as a garden plant, on escaping into a wetland area it rapidly chokes out native species of plants and the diverse habitats associated with them. Native insects suffer, as does birdlife and the mammals that live there. The absence of two leaf beetles and a weevil alters the balance of nature in Wetlands over large areas of the United States. Without them Purple Loosestrife has proven virtually impossible to get rid of.
The only solution has been to introduce the missing insects from Europe into at least 27 States Fortunately they are so specific in their food plants that native American species remain untouched.
If it is not only the wildflowers that have been eliminated from large tracts of the UK countryside by over-intensive agriculture, house building etc, but also the insects and other invertebrates that depend upon them, and on which not only they but the ecology of the area depends, rewilding becomes a lot more complex than simply putting back the wildflowers. If the associated invertebrates have been pushed too far away to be able to move back in themselves, to try and restore some sort of balance, we would then need to reintroduce them. Far easier to prevent the destruction of wildflower populations in the first place.

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The shape of seeds

11/18/2020

The few photographs that I took today show what an incredible variety of shapes, sizes and patterns are to be found in wildflower seeds. Why so many? Do they provide camouflage making the seeds harder for birds to spot, or help some way in dispersal?

Seeds of Greater birds-foot trefoil

A late October burst of flower from Stitchwort

10/25/2020

A reminder of spring from this bright little wildflower on an autumn day,
It appears to have 10 petals but in fact it only has 5 which are deeply indented. When eventually it produces seed they are fired out from its capsule with an audible pop. Stitchwort is a perennial so can survive for a few years without near plants being produced. Most books will tell you that the flowers are borne in spring and early summer, but here they are still flowering happily in our warm, sunny, Scotland in October.

Ragged Robin at Barnyards Marsh

9/6/2020

Ragged Robin (Silene flos-cuculi), as its scientific name suggests, is a flower that appears at cuckoo time, but here is one hanging on at Barnyards Marsh, Kilconquhar on the 5th September. It's a Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve, with a cut path winding through it to observe the wildlife. As well as being a good nectar source for long-tongued bees and other insects, along with Red and White Campion, it is a food plant of caterpillars of the Campion Moth (Sideris rivularis) and Lychnis (Hadena bicruris) which feed on the seed capsules.
As it prefers marshy soils, its numbers have declined over the years with the relentless drainage of fields.

Field Scabious at Lundin Links

8/23/2020

A major foodplant of the Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia), should they ever decide to bring up a family in this part of Fife. In the meantime the bees are obviously enjoying its nectar and pollen. A very attractive plant for growing in your garden or even in pots.

Horse Chestnut moth damage

10/4/2019

The horse chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum, and its tiny leaf mining moth, Cameraria ohridella, have been in the news recently, in stories expressing fear for the survival of the tree due to damage by the larvae of this moth. The appearance of this tiny moth in Britain is not so recent as might be imagined, it having been identified on a tree in Wimbledon as early as 2002 - Its caterpillar is a leaf miner which eats the leaf while concealing itself between the surfaces; the leaves develop prominent brown blotches and may be shed earlier than usual. So what's the problem: don't all trees and most wildflowers have moths and flies, often many different species of insect, nibbling away at their leaves, and have been living with the inconvenience for tens, or hundreds of thousands, of years.
The problem stems from the fact that this is a new moth to Britain and doesn't have the usual complement of predators to keep it under control. Blue tits, coal tits and great tits, those renowned caterpillar consumers, especially when nesting, can be relied upon to take a small percentage, but the big caterpillar killers, the parasitic wasps and flies, which lay their eggs inside the body of the moth larvae, and on hatch ing consume it from within, are absent. One possible reason for this arises from the fact that the horse chestnut and its moth originated in the Balkans and when imported to Britain and other parts of Europe as an ornamental tree, the moth with its specific parasitic wasp was initially left behind. Now the moth has found its way here, but not the parasitic wasp, so nature is out of balance.
So how do we deal with the problem? To seek out the parasitic wasp or fly in the Balkans and introduce it here might be one approach. Alternatively, there are a lot of parasitic wasps and flies that are less specific and it might be possible to point these in the direction of horse chestnut trees.
It is important to realise that the moths are not currently killing the trees, just making the leaves look unhealthy so there is no immediate threat to their survival. Over the years though it is possible that the trees if faced with other stresses like other diseases and drought might gradually decline in vigour, but this does give us time to seek a solution, whether it involves the use of systemic insecticides, parasitoids, more nesting boxes for blue tits, or a combination. One suggestion is to clear up the dead leaves in which the pupae overwinter and compost them inside plastic bags, so that when the adults emerge the following year they remain trapped and unable to infect the tree. Though this will not get rid of the moths completely it might reduce the extent of the damage.
One immediate danger is that visible damage to the leaves might be used as an excuse for felling trees which happen to be in an inconvenient position to the landowner. There is absolutely no justification for this. The moths does not carry fungal or viral disease, so saving the horse chestnut it not such a daunting prospect as with some other trees. It may be that as natural predators find that a rich harvest of caterpillars awaits on the horse chestnut, they will come to the rescue and problem will be resolved.
For more information, go to the the link below.
https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/pest-and-disease-resources/horse-chestnut-leaf-miner-cameraria-ohridella/

Silver-Ground Carpet Moth

6/12/2019

Our insistence on distinguishing between moths and butterflies is a bit meaningless. The little white, slim-bodied butterflies that I disturbed in Cupar today, with wingspans just a few millimetres shorter than those of the Orange Tip Butterfly were in fact Silver- Ground Carpet Moths (Xanthorhoe montanata).

They usually fly at dusk, but when disturbed during the day take to the air and fly around for a bit before coming to rest, in the case of the one pictured, on the path under a nettle leaf.

The term Carpet is a bit misleading; in common with over 99 percent of British species of moth they don't eat carpets or clothes. In fact their caterpillars feed on Bedstraw, (Gallium) often referred to as cleavers, something of which most gardeners would approve.

The belong to a very large family of moths with about 23,000 different species called the Geometridae. A characteristic of the caterpillars of this family is that they loop their way along.

Spring sunshine and Orange-tips

5/15/2019

Just been to our Nature Garden at Cupar, Fife. Good to see some orange tips flying around on such a bright sunny day. The males are so easy to recognise with their orange-tipped wings. Hopefully they will set up a breeding colony. Must make sure there is enough Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) to lay its eggs on. I say Garlic Mustard because there is lots of it growing wild around the area. But there are other alternatives including Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis), Hedge Mustard (Sisymbrium officinale), Winter-cress (Barbarea vulgaris), Turnip (Brassica rapa), Charlock (Sinapis avensis), Large Bitter-cress (C. amara), and Hairy Rock-cress (Arbis hirsuta).

Orange=tips are widespread throughout most of Britain, but a bit localised so you don't always encounter them. The last I saw was about three weeks ago in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Nearer home, we find them every year in a hedgerow near the playing fields in Blairgowrie, Angus.

Unfortunately the above is a stock photo. Although i had my camera with me, they flitter along so quickly, rarely alighting that they are difficult to snap. That's in contrast to the Peacocks which are much less camera shy and will even come and sit on your hand.

Our Nature garden is a good breeding ground for Peacock Butterflies which are always around at this time of year. We have a good stand of stinging nettles in a prime sunny location - just what their caterpillars need.