There are so many benefits of bugs in your garden. For example, did you know, there are 1.5 million identified species of insects in the world? With around 27,000 species in Britain alone… That’s a lot of creepy crawlies!
Having bugs in the world are critical for maintaining ecosystems with 3 key types – pollinators, de-composers and predators.
Pollinators
Pollinators are the insects that pollinate many of our fruits, flowers and vegetables. Without them, we would not have the produce we enjoy and rely on. They include bees, wasps, ants, flies, butterflies and moths. Today they are considered to be in a state of decline.
De-composers
Insects that are de-composers feed on dead animals, rotting vegetation, fungi and almost anything else they encounter in their environment. De-composers include mites, millipedes, centipedes, spiders and beetles.
Predators
Predator insects, such as lacewings, ladybugs and praying mantis devour other insects. Most of them destroy the bugs that devour the plants in your garden and help keep pest populations at a manageable level. They also act as a food source for many animals like hedgehogs and of course some species of birds like the robin and house martin.
You can encourage bugs into your garden by;
- Planting different flowers that will attract them, e.g. lavender will attract lots of bumble bees, or Buddleia will attract lots of butterflies.
- Leave the occasional weed undisturbed – they add to the diversity of plants which will increase the variety of insects in the garden.
- Create your very own bug hotel in your garden – watch our video guide below on how to build your very own Peckish Bug Palace or download instructions here
Encouraging bugs into your garden can be both fun to watch but most importantly, helpful to our environment.
Why not take a look at our fact sheet ‘All about bugs’ and see which bugs you can spot today!
