It has been a good year for most insects. After a relatively mid winter, followed by a wet spring and then better weather in early summer aphid numbers seemed to rocket.  There was much concern on the village allotments as early brassicas seemed to be in danger of disappearing in plague levels of aphids.  Spraying followed, but not with excessively toxic commercial insecticides, but with soap-based sprays. Possibly not as immediately effective as shop-bought sprays, but certainly less polluting.  The Brussel sprouts gradually recovered.  Nature does have a way of balancing things out. First the Ladybirds arrived in numbers – they helped a lot.  Then the wasps arrived, large nests were made in the dry ground and they also acted as the gardener’s friends. Left alone, they cause very little trouble and do an immense amount of good.

This autumn, Brampton has also seen a the arrival of large numbers of hornets. British Hornets, not the invasive Asian Yellow-Legged Variety (which decimate bee populations). Native Hornets are large, some are over an inch long and they are really an impressive sight. They are most active in the warm evenings from twilight onwards.  They are attracted to artificial light and will ‘knock on the window’ at light shining through. In spite of their fearsome-looking appearance they are much less aggressive than wasps.  If they get into the house, it is best to guide them out rather than kill them. They feed on other insects and on some plant-based nectar or sap. The nest will diminish as the cold weather arrives and solitary queens will disperse to over-winter and will form new colonies next summer.  More information on Hornets can be found on https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/invertebrates/bees-and-wasps/hornet