I recently shared a post about a Garden Safari that I went on, at some point last week. I spoke about the joys of sitting in the sun watching the wildlife around me, but the exciting part was how I found a new species of Hoverfly that I had not seen in the garden before. It was really cool to see, and takes the Species Count of the Garden up to an amazing 849 species.
I have written about creating a List of Species in a previous post, but I thought it would be worth the effort to go through it properly and show just how much variety of invertebrates and birds and plants and all sorts of other animals there are to see in the garden.
A few points before we begin:
- I only include species to the list that I am sure of (or had verification from an expert)
- Not all 800 odd species are present in the garden at any one time (obviously) The vast majority are only present for a short amount of time, or even just briefly passing through the area.
- My work (project, hobby, whatever you want to call it) is inspired by a book written by Jennifer Owen Wildlife of a Garden: A Thirty Year Study. The book tells how she spent all her spare time in her garden documenting everything she could see.
Part 1 - Bees and Beetles
Part 2 - Birds and Bugs
Part 3 - Butterflies and Dragonflies
Part 4 - Hoverflies (and other Fly species)
Part 5 - Moths
Part 6 - Spiders and Wasps
Introduction done: lets get to it!
This week is the final instalment of these articles. So far I have looked at various groups of animals, and for this last article I will shine a light on some of the 'Other' species I have recorded. This will include all the various animals that don't fit into these main categories, but aren't numerous enough to be worth categorising separately.
In no particular order, lets work through the various groups...
Amphibian - Common Frog Rana temporaria
First up are the Amphibians. There are only 7 species of amphibians to be found here in the UK, and I have seen 3 of them in the garden. We have frogs in the pond, and I see them them once or twice a month. We have seen a Toad once when we moved in, but we haven't seen one since...
Amphibian - Smooth newt Lissotriton vulgaris
We have also have Smooth Newts living in the pond, but these are much smaller, and much shyer creatures. This one in the picture above was seen at night. We have seen them in the garden in the past 3 years, and we have seen glimpses of juveniles, which shows that they are breeding. That then means that they are happy in the environment that we have created, which is good to know.
Molluscs - Black Slug Arion ater agg
This post is about all the 'odds and sods'. And That includes some of the less appealing wildlife, including slugs and snails. They have an important role in the ecosystem as they feed on detritus and dead leaves for example. Some species also feed on live plants which means that gardeners get frustrated.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. To say you "love nature" means you must "love" all of it, not just the photogenic ones.
Lacewings (Neuroptera) - Brown Lacewing Hemerobiidae species
These delicate little insects are from the Neuroptera family, but dont let their fragile looks fool you! Either as an Adult or as a Larva, these are predators and feed on a wide range of insects such as aphids and other bugs
Dermaptera - Common Earwig Forficula auricularia
These are really cool insects. There are 4 species of Earwig to see in the UK, but to be honest, 3 of them are rather restricted in their distribution. This means that most of the time, you will see this one, a Common Earwig.
The pincers may look aggressive, but the earwigs are scavengers rather than predators.
Isopoda - Common Pill Woodlouse Armadillidium vulgare
There are a dozen species of woodlouse here in the UK. So far I have found 3 of them in the garden, of which this Pill Woodlouse was the most attractive, with distinctive markings on its segments.
It is also one of several species who are able to fully curl up into a ball to defend from predators... which is really cool to see, but a pain to photograph!
Myriapoda - Millipede Julidae sp
Check out the name for these group of invertebrates: Myriapoda. The word comprises of Pod which means leg (or limb, or foot depending on the source) and Myriad (Literally means 10,000 in Greek, but is often used to signify 'Lots')
Hence: Myriapoda means literally 'Lots of legs' which sums this group up perfectly! I have seen 6 species of millipedes and centipedes in the garden. They are all rather small and very fast moving, so it is hard to get decent pictures of them
Opillones - Harvestmen Odiellus spinosus
This is not a Spider, it is in fact a closely related group called Opillones: Harvestmen. It may look like a spider, and yes it has 8 legs. But its not a Spider, honest!
It is part of the Class of Arachnida which includes scorpions, mites and ticks as well as the Spiders. If you look at the body it is one single segment (whereas spiders have 2 segments) and Harvestmen have just 2 eyes (instead of 6/8 for the spider).
Collembola - Springtails Orchesella cincta
This tiny little invertebrate is a member of the Springtail family, which look similar to the Insect family, but they are not actually insects. Most species are tiny (less than 5mm long) but they are considered to be very common and widespread across most of the UK.
Just so small that most people don't even see them...
Orthoptera - Southern oak bush cricket Meconema meridionale
The orthoptera are a reasonably large and varied group of insect comprising of the Crickets and Grasshoppers. They are many species to see in the UK, but I have only seen two species in the garden so far: A Field Grasshopper seen 3 years ago, and the above Bush-cricket.
Habitat wise, they are more often seen in fields and meadows, which makes it unlikely for me to see them in the garden I guess.
Mammal - Grey Squirrel Sciurus carolinensis
While I have seen plenty of insects and other small invertebrates, I have not seen many larger animals. This is mostly down to 'evolution'. Insects evolved before larger mammals so there is a much greater variety of them. We have around 100 species to see here, and that list includes seals and dolphins alongside Deer, Badgers, Mice and Stoats.
Most of those have very specific habitat requirements (Dolphins are most likely to be found in water 😉). That means that I don't really see many mammals here in my suburban garden. These are: Field Mouse, Brown Rat, Hedgehog, Grey Squirrel and a type of Pipistrelle Bat.
Of these 5 species, the one I am happiest with is the Hedgehog. It is a species that is in real trouble here in the UK, with widespread declines across the country. To have it here in my garden regularly is a real highlight.
On that note I will finish this instalment, and in fact this is the last instalment for now. Those of you who have been paying attention will realise that in my Species List I have over 200 species of plant and fungi recorded in the garden.
I have not included it in these articles purely because the lists I have of the various species are in a mess, and its gonna require a fair bit of work to reorganise.
That is a task that is on my 'to-do' list for this Winter, to reorganise and re-categorise my files, and hopefully in the Spring I can return to this project and finish the rest of it...
Hopefully you can see that this is a project that I am really interested in. As usual if you have any comments or questions then please write them below
All names confirmed and checked via Wikispieces
Thank you for reading, I hope you found it interesting.
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