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In the bright heat of this week's baking sunlight, a buzz of black and orange fur announces the arrival of what I think is one our cuddliest hoverflies. Merodon equestis is a large (12 - 15mm long), stout, bumblebee mimic, and although not quite

people outside a hilltop monastery or without the rugged dedication of Chris Beardshaw can manage, I will, instead, give you a list of wishes…...May this be the year that your roses remain untroubled by aphids.May your courgette plants produce exactly

the small golfball-sized embryo nest with its 15-20 cells in a single paper comb. After she has laid her first 15-20 eggs in these, she must forage for caterpillars, flies, aphids and other insects to feed to the grubs that hatch.This is a vulnerable time

There's only one thing better than receiving emails, letters and phone calls from readers and that's meeting them in person. And with Gardeners' World Live starting tomorrow (Wednesday 15 June, 2011) and running until Sunday I'm looking forward

was there to encourage people to take part in its ladybird surveys and help map the spread of the harlequin ladybird over the UK.The harlequin first came over to the UK in 2003. It was an inevitable invasion: a native of Asia, it was being used for biological control

, Myathropa florea, laying eggs inside the bin. Another one was buzzing about on Sunday, trying to find a way to the waste inside. The larvae of many hoverfly species eat aphids, but not these. The ‘rat tailed maggots’ are happier living in decaying matter

- all of which are rich in nectar, and are particularly attractive to hoverflies and lacewings whose larvae, in turn, eat aphids.Stinging nettles are essential food for the caterpillars of butterflies such as red admirals, tortoiseshells and peacocks