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. But the damp soil takes its toll on our woodwork.After comments on the last blog, I thought it might be useful to post a photograph of a real wireworm (above). Wireworms are the tough leathery larvae of click beetles, slim, smooth brown beetles that snap

The plot is abuzz with wildlife, including ladybirds, lacewings, bumblebees and ground beetles. They're all marvellous for my crops; bees increase my yields by pollinating flowers, and ladybirds and lacewings eat a lot of aphids. As well

pot just outside the front door had been nibbled. We get lily beetles occasionally but when I bent down to pick up this red insect it turned out to be a striking black and red plant bug and not a beetle at all (see pic). Corizus hyoscyami doesn't have

them is immense; they're such magical creatures.Known in Latin as Lampyris noctiluca (noctiluca meaning 'night light'), this charming glowing critter is not actually a worm, but a female beetle. She produces the yellowy-green light from the end of her

, seem to be around in remarkably similar numbers. In my garden it's business as usual: lily beetles have been feasting on my lilies, while scale insects appear to have increased in number.But where are the aphids? We’re now into mid-July and I

There's a spider the size of a gardening glove in my compost bin. It obviously gets a good living in there, feeding on the flies, woodlice, beetles and earwigs, the remains of which can be vaguely guessed in its untidy sheet of a web. I wouldn

in the garden, providing food and shelter for huge numbers of invertebrates including wood-boring beetles, solitary bees and woodlice. It can come in many forms: a tree stump left to rot into itself can provide a rot hole for the larvae of Eristalis hoverflies

A member of the beetle family Curculionidae. Weevils are small in size, with an elongated head, and can cause serious damage to fruits, nuts, trees, etc.

Click beetle larvae that live in the soil. They're a pest that attacks the roots of many crops, including tubers and bulbs.

, hedgehogs, beetles and other pest-eating wildlifeWatch out for red lily beetle on the tips and leaves of lilies. Squash any you find, or spray with a suitable pesticide