I have a large honeysuckle that grows over the balcony rail, it is only a few feet away from my computer space and in the spring and summertime the perfume is divine. I often try to photograph the honey eaters as they drink the nectar from the flowers or the silver eyes and wrens as they pick insects from the leaves.
This year the plant is absolutely covered with grey aphids there are zillions of the fat little fuckers happily sucking the life out of the flower buds.
As soon as “The Spouse” sees aphids he gets an itchy trigger finger and wants to start madly spraying soapy water everywhere to kill the little sap suckers.
I am not that hasty. I like to adopt a wait and see approach to pest management. We have a very good ecological balance here and I have found that it only takes a week or so before all the predatory insects find the veritable feast on the honeysuckle.
Also while the Aphids are sucking the life out of the honeysuckle flowers I know where they are, the honeysuckle is a tough plant and it will recover. I would much rather have a large population of Aphids on one plant that can cope instead of all over the garden on my more fragile plants.
So yesterday when I should have been working on various projects and answering your emails, I was photographing the busy ecosystem that is contained within one plant in my garden.
The birds come in the early morning to breakfast on the aphids.
There are ladybirds everywhere, gorging themselves on fat juicy aphids. (photo credit: Veronica took this first shot)
I counted at least four different types of parasitic wasp busily hunting aphids.They were far too flitty and zoomy for me to photograph well.
There were lots of different flies feeding on the honeydew the aphids produce as well as two different types of small ant.
As I am writing this I can see a number of finches eating aphids as well, I know that if I move they will fly away and I don’t want to disturb their breakfast. You will just have to imagine them flitting from branch to branch busily pecking aphids off the flower buds.
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When I used to garden — living in a house with tons of perennials in the Netherlands, then the desert, now where moose will likely eat my flowers, I haven’t really seriously gardened in years — but back in the day, when I had aphids, I would squish a bunch, hoping that the scent of tasty aphids would attract their predators.
This coming summer, once my husband retires, we will v likely be moving to a place where I can once again garden. I am looking forward to that for sure.
Oh, yeah, awesome photos!
We’ve been making bug boxes to encourage insects for both pest managment and pollination 😉
When humans leave nature alone the system works well 🙂
I love Silvereyes. Thanks for sharing!
I leave stuff alone not out of respect for the ecosystem, but because I know that I don’t know what I am doing. Maybe I am the ultimate ecologist, eh? 🙂
Such lovely photos Kim – and Veronica. I like to leave pest control to Nature too and only resort to the sprays when there is little or no alternative – the bloody millipedes creep into view there! It seems that the Spring plague is finally over so we should be ok now until Autumn when the next onslaught will arrive. I’m hoping our efforts will have at least reduced the breeding stock! Our little wrens, robins and finches are making short work of most of the other insects we have around at the moment.
I have green aphids on my rose cuttings. The first time I saw them I sprayed with white oil according to the instructions, then the leaves on the poor roses shrivelled up and died. Since then many of the rose cuttings have carked it. Now when I see the aphids I squish them, but often I’m too late and the leaf dies. I’m desperately hoping these last few cuttings make it, they’re from very old fashioned, scented,roses from a house that was being demolished. I only have 5 left from the original 3 dozen. 2 deep red and 3 buff yellow.
Ladybugs!!! I love Ladybugs. And I have no idea why.
love these shots
No wonder lady birds bring good luck. I will TRY to look at aphids as someone’s breakfast….I like squishing them on my rose buds or giving them the flick. They often congregate on dock weeds so I remove them! Apparently rabbits like them – docks.
Super photo captures!!
Beautiful Bird pics and Ladybugs!
Great pics!