Wildlife and the Living Garden

A ladybird beside an aphid colony on your roses links three lives: the rose, the aphid drinking its sap, and the ladybird eating the aphid. Hoverfly larvae may be working through the same colony, and a blue tit may pick aphids off the same bush; a hedgehog may eat the slugs below it. These overlapping feeding links form a food web.

The links shift with the season and with life stage. Adult hoverflies feed on nectar from flowers, while the larvae of many species eat aphids, so a garden with flowers for the adults gets aphid control from the young. Wildlife has value in its own right, and it also pollinates, recycles and keeps many pests in check.