Bumblebees, those furry foragers that look incapable of flight and yet are on the wing from first light until dawn, buzzing loudly as they move from bloom to bloom, are the most easily observed. Many are boldly striped in yellow and black, but some, like the common carder bee, are more drably attired in hues of brown and buff. Most bees live in holes, some in trees, even taking over bird nest boxes on occasion, with others moving into vacant rodent burrows under lawns and paths. Bumblebees are some of the first pollinators to emerge in the spring, being able to generate their own body heat by rapidly vibrating their wings. Early spring flowers, such as primroses, hellebores and spring bulbs, are essential food sources for these charismatic insects and can be literal life-savers.

A third group are often overlooked, and yet make up around 90% of bee species in the UK – the solitary bees. As their name suggests, they don’t live in colonies, most are small and lack distinctive markings, and very few audibly buzz. However, they all feed on nectar and collect pollen to feed their offspring, and so make excellent pollinators. Bee hotels are much appreciated by some species of solitary bee for housing their eggs and developing larvae. If you choose tubes with varying diameters, you will attract a variety of different species to your “hotel”. Solitary bees don’t sting, so a bee hotel is a great way to encourage children to take an interest in garden wildlife.

Fifty million years before bees started pollinating flowers, beetles were already doing a pretty good job of it. As many use a well-developed sense of smell to navigate their world, most beetle-pollinated flowers have a strong scent. They tend to prefer flowers with an open structure, such as umbellifers like cow parsley, the daisy family, brambles and roses. There are more than a thousand species of pollinating beetles in the UK, the ever-popular ladybird being one of them. Another easily identified species to look out for on a sunny summer’s day is the bright green, thick-thighed beetle, whose bizarrely swollen hind legs make it look like it is wearing old-fashioned plus fours!

Hoverflies are often mistaken for wasps, but they don’t sting, are never aggressive and don’t pester you at your picnics. They are prolific pollinators, visiting more than 70% of global food crops. They are also epic travellers; the marmalade hoverfly, which is a frequent visitor to our Essex gardens, has been found to carry pollen on journeys of over 100km, which is completely at odds with the solitary bees, which seldom travel more than a few hundred metres from their nest hole. In addition to probably being our most important group of pollinators, the larvae of many hoverflies, like the beetles, also eat plant pests such as aphids. These two groups of insect should truly be a gardener’s best friends.

Whilst all of us can surely name at least one type of butterfly (red admiral, peacock, large white?), how many people know that we have fifty times more moth species than butterfly species in this country? Both feed on nectar and transfer pollen on their feet and hairy bodies, but the sheer number and variety of moths must give them the edge over butterflies in their importance in this role. Butterflies tend to be relatively unfussy, day-feeding pollinators, whilst moths take over the night-shift, fulfilling their role virtually unnoticed. Honeysuckle is adored by both and is a special favourite of the beautiful elephant hawk moth and the day-flying hummingbird hawk moth. Mature ivy produces its flowers very late in the season and is a great favourite of those insects that are preparing for the paucity of winter. Commas can often be found nectaring on their spherical flower clusters on sunny autumn afternoons before seeking sanctuary from winter weather amidst the evergreen mat of their entwining stems. If you are lucky enough to have ivy in your garden, don’t be too hasty to cut it back; late feeding and hibernating insects will thank you for your liberalism

Wasps and ants also aid in pollination, and although their contribution is less significant than these other groups of insects, we should still consider them beneficial in our garden ecosystems.

- Sue Huggett, Campaigns Volunteer

There are more than half a million gardens in Essex. Those of us lucky enough to have one, however small, can do much to support our pollinator heroes. Take part in our Nature Neighbours campaign by pledging to create a pollinator-friendly garden today.

Nature Neighbours