In 1998 a Swiss ecologist discovered that corn plants being chewed by caterpillars could sample the insect’s saliva and release into the air around them a finely-tuned chemical gas. Within an hour, a parasitic wasp would arrive and inject eggs into the caterpillar. When the eggs hatched, the caterpillar would be eaten from the inside. If the plant didn’t know the caterpillar’s species, it certainly knew which species of wasp it needed to summon. Whether this type of species-specific manipulation occurs in Heene Cemetery —or indeed your garden—is not known, but nature’s complexity should not surprise us. Plants, insects and birds have been evolving together for thousands, even millions, of years.
There are no corn plants in the Local Wildlife Site that is Worthing’s Heene Cemetery, but there are certainly parasitic wasps, sometimes brightly-coloured, usually small, and nearly always completely harmless to us. The more of these I see and photograph, the more I appreciate the complex inter-relationships these insects (and others) have formed.
Alongside the specialist corn plant and wasp relationship above, many insects and birds are generalists. They don’t mind what they eat or where they lay their eggs. They will be opportunists that have learned to maximise their chances of survival. But many others will be specialists. Among birds, bill shape tells us whether they prefer seeds, insects or other invertebrates. The Holly Blue butterfly, a specialist, lays its eggs—predictably—on the leaves of Holly bushes so that its larvae can feed on Holly flower buds, berries and terminal leaves.
This specialism is seen everywhere, not least with bees and bumblebees. It’s no surprise that the Ivy Bee (first seen in Britain in 2001), emerges late in the year and favours Ivy as its main source of pollen and nectar. It’s a must-see species in the Cemetery in October. The Hummingbird Hawk Moth, whose long proboscis is perfectly suited to the deep-throated flowers of Red Valerian form a partnership documented on film by David Attenborough. This pairing even extends to the moth laying its eggs on the plant, as if signalling to the emerging adults that this plant should be their go-to picnic spot.
Everywhere one looks, the blizzard of prey-predator-host relationships forms a network of co-existence, of which pollination is the most obvious. Turn to any page in James Power’s authoritative 2024 book The Bees of Sussex and you’ll see that the majority of our county’s 229 species of bee are fussy about which plants they visit. No green space or garden will cater for them all, but the wider the variety of plants available, the greater the variety of visiting bees you will see. And so on for many insects and birds.
These inter-species relationships exemplify the slow and tireless advance of biological evolution. Yet only yesterday in evolutionary terms (2019) the world used about two million tons of conventional pesticides annually to control crop environments. It’s an unequal combat, isn’t it?
However, living in a town does not insulate us from what’s happening to the natural world; nor should it render us helpless. Just keep in mind the basics: avoid chemicals; don’t always keep things tidy (Buglife’s B-Lines project confirms that what we see as neat and tidy, insects see as a desert); increasing plant variety helps add resilience in the face of an escalatingly unpredictable climate; leave a little bare earth for ground-burrowing insects; and when choosing pollinator-friendly plants, consider different flowers that bloom in different seasons.
If you don’t have a lawn, but you do have a balcony, use it for some plants. Insects will find them, as was shown in the Buzz Club’s Buzzing Balconies project in Brighton & Hove. (Check their website for current pollinator-friendly projects.)
If you do have a lawn, think of avoiding monoculture turf. If you plan to lay new turf, search for ‘species-rich lawn turf’ or ‘wildflower turf’. Some of these products can provide you with a mini-meadow with 20 or more wildflower species, all producing pollen and nectar for a variety of insects. Choose turf that requires minimal maintenance yet provides a varied display year after year.
Above all—for lawns—join Plant Life’s No Mow May movement. Going strong since 2019, this movement has delivered enormous gains for nature. With over 20 million gardens in the UK, even small patches of unmown lawn can collectively do wonders for biodiversity. Your garden may not be an official Local Wildlife Site, but you can make it a very welcoming place for wildlife.
[This article first appear in the April edition of Inside West Worthing Magazine (page 10).]
Written by Rob Tomlinson