When Covid limited my travelling, I decided to spend my time investigating what other creatures I was sharing my “habitat” (edible forest garden) with. I knew quite a lot about the obvious things like butterflies and birds but little about, for example, insects. I set about in particular recording moths using a light trap and other techniques. That I recently registered my 300th species on my 2,200 sq.m. plot would never have occurred to me was possible when I started on this inward journey! My mind is blown away by the fact that growing food in a diverse forest garden like mine can contribute to such a large biodiversity and this only one relatively small but important part of the insect world present here. I’ve also registered many wild bees, bumble bees, hoverflies and others. Learning which larval food plants the moths are using has also taught me much, as has the important role of moths in pollination. After winter hibernation as adults or pupae, the incredible importance of Salix caprea (goat willow / sallow) in providing food in early spring has become even more important in my mind. The newly arrived insectivorous migratory birds attracted to the willow when they arrive here mid-April suddenly makes more sense as the migration of some species is naturally timed perfectly for the mass-emergence of willow-attracted insects!
THIS THEN IS THE 300th MOTH SPECIES REGISTERED IN THE EDIBLE GARDEN AND ITS ANOTHER BEAUTY! This is the treble-bar moth / stor perikummåler (Aplocera plagiata). Its larvae are dependent on perforate st John’s-wort / prikkperikum (Hypericum perforatum) a species I’ve grown in the garden for years. It was also my 200th new species for Malvik municipality and 8 of the 300 were also new species for my county Trøndelag! So, 2/3 of the species I’ve recorded on my rocky edible hillside have actually never been recorded in my municipality, Malvik, before! Actually, only a little over 400 moths have been recorded in Malvik over the years! See pictures of all 300 species on my blog post (link below). This is added to as new species are recorded! Many are equally as beautiful as the butterflies most off us love: https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=27297
I love when my gardening activities attract wildlife and contributes to the biodiversity of this wonderful place! I’m once again growing wapato (Sagittaria latifolia) in addition to Chinese arrowhead (probably Sagittaria trifolia) in large containers (sorry for the plastic!). I can see these containers from my sitting place in the garden behind the Amelanchier hedge and in the heat wave and drought we’ve been experiencing with record high May temperatures (over 30C not far from here), I’ve seen several bird species drinking. Today, I found a batman hoverfly (dødningehodeblomsterflue; Myathropa florea) in one of the buckets:
The end of March this year was mild with little frost. I was surprised to find the first flowering sallow / selje (Salix caprea) on 19th March and by the end of the month some larger trees were in full flower providing much needed food for a myriad of insects include wild bees, bumble bees and most of the 13 moth species shown below, all of which were photographed in my garden at the end of March, attracted by a moth trap. In turn, birds are attracted to the insect feast and some also feed on the nectar directly.
9 days after the picture of the first flowers was taken above and the whole tree was in flower
At the Ringve Botanical Garden in Trondheim there were several fowering sallows on the 29th March
Ringve: I noticed both blue tits (blåmeis) and great tit (kjøttmeis) in the tree and the blue tits seemed to be feeding on the catkins (nectar; a known food for these birds)
Ringve: I was surprised also to see a goldcrest (fuglekonge) flycatching in the tree!
Another nice tree in flower on the shore line at Ranheim!
My interest in recording the incredible diversity of insects in my 40 year old edible forest garden lead to a much better understanding of the importance of different key species for the biological diversity present in the garden and the goat willow (selje) is perhaps the most important species of all despite the fact it is only a very marginal edible plant for us. I was aware of the importance of the nectar provided by willow to bumble bees and wild bees in the spring, but I was totally unaware earlier of the importance of this tree for moths emerging as adults in mid-April. I have so far recorded over 30 species of moth which are dependent on willow either in spring or in the larval stage (see the amazing diversity of the moths photographed in the garden in the picture at the bottom. However, this also explains the arrival of the chiffchaff (gransanger) and other migratory species in a wave in the middle of April here…arriving to a ready supply of insect food. The videos show our chiffchaff insect catching up amongst the catkins of one of the goat willows in the garden on 21st April, often singing as he hunts. Another fascination I’ve had for many years is the incredible complexity and beauty of bird song when slowed down (like a sound microscope; after hearing a BBC radio program about this and particularly the song of the wren: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9x2rjExeW8). The second video is of the chiffchaff at normal and 10% speed as it hunts amongst willow catkins. The third video is also slowed down and shows a singing flycatching chiffchaff and a bumble bee flies past at the end (see at full screen)!
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
