According to the Daily Mail it’s been an excellent year for bugs.

Due to our unusually temperate weather with no particularly hot or cold periods bugs are flourishing and it’s predicted that this will ensure a good supply of creepy crawlies.

Buglife (an environmental and wildlife UK charity) and the BAS (British Arachnological Society) are overjoyed that this autumn we’re in for a bumper crop of spiders and other bugs.

I think it goes without saying that the majority of us know that spiders have eight legs, lurk in dark and dusty corners of your house and run like the wind.  We also know that they happily live outside as well as in, make webs, and catch flies and other insects which would otherwise be nibbling their way through our nasturtiums or feasting on our home grown veg and fruity bits!  Then they, in turn, do their bit in the food chain and supply the local bird population with a meaty morsel.  The main downside for me though is that these beneficial bugs do have an uncanny knack at weaving their webs in the most inconvenient places.  At this time of year, many’s the time I’ve trundled down the garden with peg bag dangling from my right arm and linen basket tucked awkwardly under the left, only to find myself with a cobweb across the kisser (for those of you not familiar with the term, it’s used here in the UK to refer to the face and, in particular, the mouth!).

As it’s now coming into the spider mating season, it looks as though we’re in for a spider baby boom as the current abundance of the male eight legged beasties go on the pull trying to ensnare the most attractive female.  I’m afraid though, for some of those poor sexually deprived spiders who have spent hours spinning their wondrous webs, they’re probably going to ensnare a rather larger female (not attractive I hasten to add!) as I venture down the garden with my bag and basket!! 

Apparently the same abundance applies to the next creepy crawly - the cranefly.  These are known in the  UK as ‘daddy long legs’ and have an incredibly annoying habit of gangling around in front of the telly when I’m desperately trying to get a grip on a complex murder mystery.  So often I’ve been tempted to zap ‘em but, being one of those stupid people who can even see good in slugs and snails, tend to catch them in a glass and put them outside, by which time I’ve completely lost the plot of my programme!  But I’ve often wondered what use they are.  I realise that they’re bound to be another food source for birds but other than that, what do they actually do for a living??

Well all is now revealed!  According to various wildlife and environmental sources, cranefly larvae are vital for breaking down leaf mould and compost and ensuring healthy soil so, the next time you find yourself reaching for the fly spray or sneaking up with a rolled up newspaper to zap a daddy-long-legs, do what I do and catch it in a jar or glass and put it back outside to go about its business!

According to the same article, 2007 was a particularly bad year for butterflies and moths in the UK but again, due to wonderful weather conditions, these also seem to be on the incline.  I have to say that our garden certainly seems to have had an abundance of both.  In fact, I’ve seen butterflies this year that I haven’t seen for years, such as the Red Admiral and the Peacock.

And finally, on ‘things that go flutter in the night’ I’d like to tell you a true story from here in rural Spixworth, UK.  While I was out gardening I turned to find my cat with her head under the potentilla bush patting something and then leaping backwards before entering into the melee again.  At first I thought it must be some poor frog or toad so I left what I was doing to go and investigate.  I saw what I thought was a lizard – two little eyes looked up imploringly at me.  As my other ‘arf was working in his toolshed I called him to come and grab the lizard while I tried to engage the cat in some other form of entertainment – namely, grab the grass!  When he arrived he told me that it wasn’t a lizard at all but a caterpillar.  Being the ever suspicious female, I didn’t believe him and I said that it was too big and besides, it had two beady little eyes.

Being a tad miffed that I didn’t believe him, he told me to go and fetch the camera from indoors while he went and got the garden trowel.  As you can see from the photo below he weren’t kiddin’!  For your info, the head of the caterpillar is at the top of the picture and you can probably understand why I thought it was a lizard.  We released the poor thing into the meadow at the bottom of our garden and just hope it survived but, bearing in mind its size it was bound to attract attention from the local bird life!

As it was so distinctive with its segmented body, it’s almost lizard like head with two seemingly blue eyes, we checked it out on the web and instantly discovered it was the caterpillar of the Elephant Hawk moth, a picture of which is below.  I only wish I’d seen the ‘finished article’ so to speak as it looks absolutely stunning!