Spraying our way to extinction

Large bumble bees are down by 95% yet we are entirely dependent on them to pollinate crops with deep flowers like beans and peas. Wild bees, hive bees, hover flies, wasps and butterflies are also in serious decline yet we need them to pollinate so many of our flowers and vegetables.



Two thirds of our larger moths and 70%of our butterflies are in serious decline and other insects are in serious trouble too. A single brood of blue tits needs 20,000 caterpillars prior to fledging. So if we spray the caterpillars, we starve the blue tits. Adult blue tits eat hundreds of greenfly each day so if you spray them too, you add to the carnage of our garden birds. In our lifetime, 200 invertebrates have vanished completely from Britain in the last 50 years.

Charles Darwin was the first to recognise that the earthworm was the most valuable animal in the world. It turns over and aerates our soil.It fertilises the soil by dragging leaf litter down into its burrows. It is eaten by hedgehogs, blackbirds, starlings and other birds. Yet we continue to poison our soil with fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. Then we wonder why our soil goes sour, our lawn becomes waterlogged and choked with moss or greeen slime!

I could go on and on...

What can you do?

1 Plant nectar bearing flowers to bloom throughout the year and don't bother with sterile garden centre hybrids that lack pollen and nectar

2 Avoid all garden herbicides and pesticides. Even the safe "green" ones are not safe and kill garden friends as well as foes

3 Leave dead wood in place to provide homes and shelter for beneficial invertebrates, beetles and other insects

4 Creat a log pile for hedgehogs, toads, frogs and stag beetles.

5 Dig a pond and keep it free from fish. You will attract dragonflies, frogs and newts

6 Don't cut all of your lawn short or over tidy your garden for the winter. Leave areas of long grass and rougher foliage for overwintering larvae. Of particular value are the larvae of ladybirds and lacewings. They will repay you by clearing your roses of aphids.

7 Create artificial nests for bees by burying flower pots accessed by short lengths of hosepipe

8 Don't use chemical fertilisers at all. They overstimulate coarser weed plants, kill invertebrates and leach into ponds, ditches, streams and rivers where they cause algal blooms and massive growth of water weeds. Such fertiliser enrichment chokes streams and poisons fish.

Many if not most farmers poison their land on a massive scale and that is why the countryside is so dead. Farming occupies 75% of Britain and most of it is unfit for insect life. Where are the vast flocks of birds and the butterflies that we knew as children? Gardeners operate on a small scale in comparison, but just think about how many of us there are. Think about how much land is gardened. Think about the difference we could make if we all stopped spraying our birds, butterflies and bees into extinction. We can't survive without them - we really can't.

(Adapted from the current edition of BBC Wildlife Magazine)

 

We have lived in our village for five and a half years and have noticed a decline in the insects,due to the fact that the land our village is being built on what was agricultural in the past.We don't use chemicals on either the garden or our allotment,and are pleased that we have wildlife visiting,mainly birds, frogs,newts hedgehogs,grasshoppers and crickets.
We have had a Tit Box in place for just over two and a half years and for the last two years have had chicks which have fledged both times,despite having two cats.Four chicks from this years box have been back to feed on our feeders.
We have noticed though even though we get lots of bees visiting the garden there are a lot of plants that are not pollinated.
We have also had for the last two years Hummingbird Hawkmoths flying and feeding in the garden.
Our next project in the garden is to dig out a small pond for the frogs and newts and also for dragonfly's and for the birds to bathe and drink.

 

One of the first things in flower in my garden HB in January, is often visited by bumble and honey bees - stirring on mild days. Its one of the golden leafed, pink flowering ericas.



The early flowering crocus is also a good nectar source. I have tried to have something in flower every week of the year, for both my and the bees pleasure.

 

That would be a good challenge for GC members. Send at least one photo EVERY month of something in flower in your garden

 

Very well said Hornbeam

I try hard to keep my garden as chemical-free as I can. I have a real phobia about frogs and toads, but, since moving to my lovely house and garden, am trying REALLY hard to make them welcome!

I have quite a lot of flowers that attract wildlife and hope to plant more.

My grass stays long in the winter because otherwise, the dogs churn it up - so thats good

I am learning so much from people like yourself on this forum H, and I thank you very much for that

 

A very good article hornbeam ..if we dont look after the wildlife in years to come they will be extinct..I dont use fertilisers only comfrey and nettle home made plant food..and i am over flowing with insects and frogs ..I too have a phobia marge and i seem to have hundreds of them..A few too many for my liking ..but saying that they are keeping the snails down as their are empty snail shells everywhere..
I have lots of native hedgerow and logs so insects have plenty of places undisturbed for the winter.. :D

 

Very good. I agree with everything you say although there doesn't seem to be a shortage of Bumblebees up here I'm happy to say there were tons in my plot.

Mind you I haven't seen a Thrush in ages or a Blackbird and ground beetles seem less too. Also Kestrels are far less numerous but Buzzards are certainly much much commoner.

Unfortunately foxes are far more numerous.

 

When we arrived here, we had a totally bare area, just grass and weeds, and no sign of wildlife. We knew there were birds out in the railway area, so we had to entice them in - plantd trees, a native hedge, put up feeders, and bird tables, hung apples from fences, planted teasels, dug a pond, made a wildlife area behind the pond..... and now we have had loads of birds since spring, mostly young ones, and there are frogs, toads and we've seen 1 newt so far. Not many vertebrates get in, though, as we've had to put up chicken wire to keep the rabbits out, so no hedgehogs, pity. But we know there are shrews, courtesy of Tom.....

Oh, yes, and we have bats too - we're hoping they'll use the box we put up highon the garage soon, and that the swallows will nest in the garage too - they came to us after their nest had been destroyed, so fingers crossed

It's amazing how much you can achieve with a bit of hard work and no chemicals..... :D

We don't see many thrushes here either, Sawfish, nor all that many kestrels, but yes, loads of buzzards. We have regular visits from a couple of blackbirds, lots of tits of all sorts, finches, sparrows, starlings, a couple of wood-pigeons, magpies, and the swallows and swifts make summer interesting - oh yes, and we have a few wrens, and of course my helpful robins, who loved me digging up all the grass! :D

 

Well done Dendro and others. Enormously encouraging. Good to see elsewhere that Titch is saying much the same and I was recently watching old Geoff Hamilton programmes on Sky TV - he was also advocating organic, wild life friendly gardening way back then. I was struck by one thing he said which should re-assure anyone having doubts.

"The pests will arrive first, but never be tempted to use any chemicals on them. Be patient. As soon as they start to build up sufficient numbers, their predators will come and eat them. The predators (birds, beetles, ladybirds , lacewings etc etc) only come for food. If you poison the pest - you will never get the rest!"

 

I knew sonmeone else on here was the same as me Wilflower - I couldnt remember who it was! I had a very bad experience a couple of weeks ago - maybe I'll tell you about it one day....... :eek:

 

marge..would love to hear about it !! I wont go in my pond now as they are under the wood ..inside the liner ..under stones..they range in size from a 50p to large !! the larger they get the uglyier they become..

 

We have about 2 1/2 acres surrounded by pastureland. We are lucky because the farmer has not sprayed herbicide or fertiliser for about 10 years. His fields, that house ponies and rare breed cattle, are becoming covered in purple thistles that attract huge flocks (or is it a 'charm') of goldfinches in late summer. his pastureland is shrinking but he doesn't seem to mind too much and we do get wind blown seeds all over the place but it's a price worth paying. We don't use any chemical anything and the insects and bees this year have been fantastic. You cannot walk on the lawn with bare feet because the clover is so full of bees. We have quite a few thrushes and blackbirds and are visited at this time of year by flocks of redwings and fieldfares going through the hedgerows of hawthorn berries. There has been a lot of beech mast this year and we even had large flocks of chaffinches, never seen them in such large numbers before.
Plants that I would say have been the best for insects are the common Evening Primrose, Buddlejas, especially Weyeriana 'moonlight' (it's still in flower now), a tall Aster with hundreds of tiny white flowers that I cannot remember the name of, and white Clover. We have a lot of all of these.

 

But Marge and Wildflower - don't you remember the story of the Frog Prince? If you kiss one he might turn into a handsome prince and you'll both live happily ever after.

 

Sounds like heaven, Blackthorn. I love north Cornwall and that wild, wild coastline

 

'tis a bit heavenly HB.
About kissing frogs though, you gets the prince and it's just one more to feed, wash and iron for!