David Bellamy welcomes bugs at Wisley

I first met David Bellamy about 25 years ago when he appeared in an advert about plant fertilizers. He was full of life then, and he still is. Wearing a bright orange jumper and sporting an impressive white beard, he was down at RHS Wisley last week to open their new controlled-environment research facility. Despite the damp weather he was full of good cheer and still passionate about plants, bugs and conservation.

It was a busy event, attended by press, gardening boffs, and major supporters of Wisley, which, as part of the RHS, is a charity. Unfortunately by the time Prof Bellamy reached the coffee table, all the cups had been nabbed - but he waited patiently and eyed up the enormous chocolate cookies with me. "I'll don’t think I can eat a whole one," I said rather feebly. "Shall we share one then?" he said. I broke one in half, crumbs spilling everywhere. "Looks a bit like a soil sample" he chuckled.

But back to business; on the platform Roger Williams, RHS Head of Science explained how the RHS is keen to encourage environmentally and wildlife friendly gardening practices hence they are carrying out scientific research aimed at supporting gardeners.”

Biodiversity is being lost on a global scale but the good news is that more people than ever are wanting to garden for wildlife. hence there are more enquiries than ever about what to plant to attract bugs and insects. The new research will investigate whether a geographical origin of a garden plant is a significant factor in biodiversity richness. An average garden contains around 70% non-native pants to just 30% British native plants. Does this make a difference to our wildlife friends, do they care what we plant? The three year study should reveal some fascinating findings which will help gardeners make informed choices.

The Wisley research beds include slug and snail traps, pitfall traps for beetles, suction sampling which sucks up insects such as flies, aphids etc. (the RHS promise this doesn’t cause them trauma) and notes from volunteer observers who watch the beds for flying insects such as bees.

It’s amazing to think that so much is going on in our gardens without us noticing. At the Wisley test gardens, over 4,900 individual flying insects have visited flowers on the plots, including 13 species of butterfly and 13 species of bee. More than 250 different species of insects such as beetles have been found in the pitfall traps. In total, nearly 34,000 insects have been recorded during the 2 years of monitoring. Amazing - and quite heart warming. I shall look at those ants in my flower bed with new interest from now on.

More information: http://www.rhs.org.uk/science