As nature evolves, we can help wildlife to thrive

THIS week I have been fascinated watching a huge buff-tailed bumblebee going to the summer jasmine and pink salvia flowers to drink nectar.

But this older bumble has learnt that she doesn’t need to waste time trying to get her large body into the small flower but can access the sweet nectar by stabbing the side of the flower with her sharp, long tongue and extracting the energy drink much more quickly.

Apparently, older bees learn this shortcut by watching other older bees doing it.

As I noticed the same bee returning to these flowers several times over a couple of days, that got me thinking about nectar.

I remember learning at school about photosynthesis, where leaves of plants use the energy from sunlight mixed with carbon dioxide and water to make a sugar which then moves through the connective tissues to other parts of the plant.

What I didn’t know (I must have been away that day) was that this substance is secreted into special cells at the base of the flower, near the ovary, that turn the sugar into nectar.

Nectar is what attracts insect pollinators (and small birds with long thin beaks in some places). In some plants nectar is replenished every 20 minutes, while other plants can take a full day to renew their nectar supply.

Of course, some plants that use other means of pollination, such as trees pollinated via the wind, do not produce nectar at all as there is no need for it.

The bumble I had been watching had obviously collected enough pollen earlier on in the summer for her young to survive and was now busy building up energy for her own survival.

It has been a good year for frogs and toads — I have all sizes in my garden and still some tadpoles in the pond. We have a small pond that we put in during the coronavirus pandemic in a part of the garden where nothing really grew well.

We ordered various pond plants online and were very pleased with the results. The plants in the pond grew too successfully so I removed some this year but made the mistake of removing too many. This year, after the water buttercups were over, tons of pondweed appeared covering the whole surface of the water.

It is quite interesting to watch lots of insects using the pondweed as a landing stage — wasps, hoverflies, ladybirds, flies. Some were using the platform to drink from the pond, I think the ladybirds had found small mites to eat and I watched one hoverfly becoming prey to some other creature from the depths below.

Sadly, I hadn’t left enough taller pond plants for the dragonflies this year. So it’s back to the drawing board.

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I WAS reading an article about British pollinators. We have nearly 270 species of bee, more than 50 species of butterfly, 2,500 species of moth, 9,000 wasp species (mostly solitary) and 280 species of hoverfly.

Obviously, there is a high demand for pollen and nectar in the height of summer when many gardens have most flowers.

Biodiversity is such that, fortunately, for many pollinating insects different plants are food at different times of the year. To help insects to survive it is recommended that we try to grow pollinating/ nectar-producing plants for as long a season as possible.

My garden tends to be good for very early spring to early summer pollinators but it is hard to keep the flowers going into autumn, especially this year when we have had such a long dry spell.

I did have masses of bees and butterflies in late June and early July when there were more flowers in bloom, the wild marjoram in particular. I tried to provide a good mix of flowers but this dry heat means many plants have finished flowering and set seeds now.

Some of the plants suggested for August and September pollinators are things like heathers (Calluna vulgaris) which need acidic soil to grow well, or cardoons, which are great if you have a lot of space. Catmint is a great draw as are globe thistle, sunflowers, yarrow, hollyhocks, angelica and cosmos.

I have trouble growing Rudbeckias but they are a good choice of a late flower, as are Verbena bonariensis, Heleniums and ice plants.

Most pollinators have finished nesting by September, apart from the ivy bee. Any English ivy you have will be buzzing noisily — such an important source of pollen and nectar. Some bumblebees might still be around but their numbers are dwindling and you will see small tortoiseshell, peacock and comma butterflies on sunny days.

If you cut your Buddleja back in May it will flower much later and be busy with late bees and butterflies in September and later.

Other plants suggested for later in the year are Cyclamen coum, which will flower from December to April, winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima) is a magnet for bumbles on the wing in December.

I am fortunate to have some large Eleagnus x ebbingei shrubs which have tiny little white flowers with the strongest sweet scent that attracts hundreds of buzzing insects almost up to December.

If you haven’t done it already, don’t forget to do the Big Butterfly Count which is a nationwide citizen science project open until August 10. Just 15 minutes sitting somewhere outside monitoring British butterfly species. For more information, visit butterfly-conservation.org

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FINALLY, well done to the residents of Elizabeth Close in Henley who helped to control a field fire which took hold in the fields behind their houses (Standard, July 25).

We are becoming accustomed to seeing wildfires out of control in other places but this recent fire in Henley is an important reminder to us that we must be vigilant during these periods of extreme weather.

Fortunately, when the fire brigade arrived they managed to put the fire out but not without the farmer losing expensive equipment to the fire. The fact that we have had weeks of very dry weather was the trigger for this fire.

I have been reading a lot of information about encouraging cities and other urban areas to break up the hardstanding and concrete jungles with trees and rain gardens. We know that due to the changes in our climate, excessive rainfall is happening all over the world. We can’t stop these extreme events but in this case we can do things to make sure the volume of water is slowed down as it makes its way to the lowest point.

Lateral-thinking councils are replacing some of the miles of asphalt and concrete with planted areas with special filtering and drainage to slow and clean the flow of storm-water.

These ideas for green infrastructure are not eccentric schemes but will be an important help in reducing the harm of flash floods. Greener Henley takes resilience very seriously and believe that all the community, all stakeholders should be thinking about the actions we can take now in preparation for future flooding.

We hope to be involved in future public talks about how we can work together to make our town as safe as possible in the face of possible climate risks.