Wildlife Gardening ebooks Carefully researched and written by Paul Peace, the following ebooks are available for free download.
 | introduction to wildlife gardening.pdf | introduction to wildlife gardening | 117kb |
| dispelling the myths.pdf | dispelling the myths.pdf | 36kb |
| wildlife gardening semi nat habitats.pdf | wildlife gardening semi nat habitats.pdf | 1927kb |
| wildlife gardening semi nat habitats.pdf | wildlife gardening semi nat habitats.pdf | 1927kb |
| wildlife gardening the artificial habitats.pdf | wildlife gardening the artificial habitats.pdf | 1074kb |
Top gardening pest revealed
19th January 2011
The viburnum beetle has been ranked as the most annoying gardening pest by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).
Enquiries from RHS members were compiled and analysed to see which bugs were referenced the most, with the viburnum taking the top spot after it knocked last year's winners – slugs and snails – from first place.
Garden specialist Andrew Halstead said the insect had frequently been in the rankings, but had never appeared so prominently.
"They do seem to have become more troublesome," he explained, adding that the damage they do to evergreen viburnums "is more apparent because it can be seen all-year round".
Other culprits included chafer grubs, vine weevils and harlequin ladybirds – the latter of which was highlighted as particularly troublesome because it over-winters as an adult beetle in garden buildings.
The Sun newspaper recently described the rosemary beetle and scarlet lily beetle as leading causes of concern for gardeners, despite them being native to Europe and Asia.
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'Replacement' elm identified - 11th September 2010 |
| An Italian-bred elm with proven resistance to Dutch elm disease has emerged as the most suitable candidate to return the much-missed elm tree to the British countryside following trials of resistant varieties by Butterfly Conservation. | |
| Ulmus 'Morfeo' was bred in Florence in 2000 and is a cross between a Chinese elm known for its resistance to Dutch elm disease, U. chenmoui, and a hybrid of U. x hollandica and the field elm, U. minor. | |
| Of the 13 disease-resistant cultivars trialled, it showed the best adaptation to UK growing conditions and had the closest similarity to U. minor, once the most commonly-seen elm tree along with the wych elm (U. glabra). Nearly all have now disappeared following the ravages of Dutch elm disease (Ophiostoma novo-ulmi) during the 1970s. | |
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Wildlife: it's good news for bees, moths and butterflies
Garden wildlife has bloomed in 2009, although pity the poor hedgehog
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Gardening wildlife has bloomed in 2009, but while bee, moth and butterfly populations are on the rise, sightings of frogs, toads and hedgehogs populations have fallen, according to a poll for Gardeners’ World magazine. According to the survey of more than 2,000 gardening readers, just over half thought wildlife levels over the past 12 months were similar to previous years, but 24 per cent noticed an increase, while just 13 per cent thought levels had fallen.
Although frogs were the most common garden animal in a similar survey last year (seen in 67 per cent of gardens), according to the survey this year only 42 per cent of respondents spotted them, with the toad population also falling back. Meanwhile the hedgehog population fell from 44 per cent to 27 per cent. Some of the other key findings included:
- 72 per cent of people were taking steps to encourage wildlife into their garden.
- The wildlife most frequently spotted in gardens were birds followed by squirrels, frogs, mice, bats.
- Insects and bugs: spiders came top of the list, followed by butterflies, bees, wasps, then ants.
- The least welcome visitors were rats, followed by slugs, snails, greenfly and cats.
- 17 per cent of readers spotted the beautiful painted lady butterfly.
According to Adam Pasco, editor of Gardeners’ World Magazine: “It’s great to see the enthusiasm our readers have for sharing their gardens with local wildlife. With a little understanding of the needs of wildlife, we can create environments to encourage a wide range of creatures to take up residence in our gardens. Planting hedges and borders of shrubs provide shelter and nesting sites for birds, fruits and berries provide food, while log piles and ‘wild’ give creatures somewhere to hibernate. A supply of water is also essential.”
A feature on the poll’s findings and further ideas on how to encourage wildlife into your garden are in the December issue of Gardeners’ World Magazine.
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New pest could pose threat to UK gardens as country warms up
Cluster of infant Southern Green Shield Bugs on underside of leaf
© Brian Pluthero
A pest from southern Europe, seen occasionally in the UK since 2003, is feared to be breeding on our shores according to leading charity, Garden Organic, which warns it could become more common as the climate gets hotter.
Garden Organic was alerted to the Southern Green Shield Bug's (Nezara viridula) reappearance this month when one of our members living near London spotted a strange cluster of newly hatched insects in their garden. We are now urging gardeners to be vigilant.
The Southern Green Shield Bug, native to southern Europe, has the potential to be a serious pest to gardeners and farmers as it enjoys eating beans, alfalfa, soya beans, tomatoes, golden rod, amaranth, cucurbits and Viburnum amongst a further 300 possible food plants worldwide. Worryingly, damage is not immediately obvious, but shows up a few weeks after the insects have been and gone. Damage includes loss of blooms, leaves and distorted fruit.
Adult Southern Green Shield Bug
© Arno & Louise - Flickr Creative Commons
Believed to have been brought to the UK on imported fruit and veg, the bug has been an occasional visitor since 2003 but there have been few records of it breeding here. However as the climate gets warmer, so the conditions for the shield bug to breed become more favourable. The adults are vigorous flyers and have the capacity to spread rapidly.
Horticulture expert, Sally Cunningham from Garden Organic said, “This is one clear indicator that climate change is impacting our gardens. We're not suggesting that the Southern Green Shield Bug species will destroy gardens or crops, but we are urging people to be aware that as the climate warms up, new pests will appear.”
Cunningham continued, “We want people to keep an eye out for the lentil-sized youngsters, which are red and black and cluster around their eggshells on the underside of leaves for about two days after hatching. Just like our native shield bugs, these go through some very beautiful colour changes before ending up looking like rather ordinary green bugs. We'd love to know where people are spotting the bugs so that we can begin to map how far north they are moving.”
The easiest way of identifying whether you have found a Southern Green Shield Bug is to catch them during their infancy, when they are more easily identified.
To see Ashley Wood's excellent illustrations of the Southern Green Shield Bug in its various life cycle stages visit www.britishbugs.org.uk (the Southern Green Shield Bug is four rows of pictures down and to the right).
Despite the threat posed by Nezara viridula, we suggest that there are ways that it can be dealt with organically. In the US parasitic wasps and flies are successfully controlling the bug, but Garden Organic advises that vigilance and attracting a good balance of other beneficial insects into the garden will also help.
Government calls for peat phase out welcome
The Wildlife Trusts has welcomed the launch of a Government consultation which looks to phase out the use of peat in all horticultural sectors, but warned that even greater urgency is needed if we are... Full Story
Story by RSWT
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