Minibeasts in your garden

www.naturalengland.org.uk

Minibeasts in yourgarden

By far the most numerous and diverseof animals, on the planet and in thegarden, are the minibeasts –invertebrates. They include spiders,snails, woodlice, worms, millepedesand centipedes, false scorpions,mites, earthworms and, of course, theever-abundant insects.

Gardens are ideal for minibeasts,often full of useful microhabitats suchas ponds, compost heaps, rockeries,flower borders and shrubberies thatmimic good examples of naturalhabitats. Unlike much of thecountryside, gardens provide acontinuous habitat, separated only byhedges and fences and are havens forour smaller wildlife. Some species,such as the impressive stag beetle, arenow commoner in gardens than inthe wider countryside.

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Gardens can be ideal homes for minibeasts.

Sycamore moth caterpillar.

Minibeasts are fascinating andbeautiful creatures. Encouraging andstudying them in the garden makes areal contribution to their conservationand is an educational – and highlyenjoyable – pursuit that brings a widerunderstanding of how the livingworld works.

Food plants – minibeastrestaurants and cafés

Many minibeasts eat the leaves,stems, flowers, even the wood ofgarden plants. Most simply make theodd hole in a leaf here and there,mine the occasional stem or suck alittle sap and are not really anuisance. Lots of attractive butterflies,moths, bugs and beetles takeadvantage of the plants in our

gardens and it’s worth increasing thevalue of the garden to them bycultivating the plants they can use,while avoiding those that attractpests.

Native or not?

Most books on gardening for wildlifestress the need for native plant

species to attractinsects. Whilethis is sound, it’snot necessary tofill your gardenwith wildflowersto encourageattractive plant-eating species.You can still be aplant enthusiast –or use mostordinary gardenplants – and stillhave a host ofinterestingminibeasts in thegarden.

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Thousands of minibeast speciesinhabit gardens and it is easy to findscores in a single day. A fifteen-yearstudy of a typical Leicester gardenfound over 2,100 species. Someturned up only very occasionally, butothers were long-time residents.

Sadly, some people don’t appreciatethe wealth of wildlife on theirdoorstep, thinking of minibeasts withfear and revulsion, or consider all ofthem as pests. However, only a tinyhandful of creatures bite or sting, orravage our plants and it is these thathave given the rest a bad name.

Minibeasts are vital in the smoothrunning of both the garden and the

world. They pollinate crops andflowers, tidy up the remains of deadplants and animals, and are vital linksin the food-chains that support otherfavourite garden animals – the birds,mammals, amphibians and reptiles.

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Shield bug.Cucumber spider.

Cardinal beetle.

General purple and gold moth.

Not every gardener wants lots ofnettles and it’s worth bearing in mindthat the butterflies only use nettles infull sunshine. Keeping that nettlepatch in the shady area behind thegarden shedwon’t do – youwill need tosacrifice a primebit of sunnyborder if youwant butterfliesto breed on them.An alternativemight be to checkout the local area– there areusually patchesof nettles aroundsomewhere – andthen persuade

the local authority to leave them forthe butterflies.

It can be fun to grow a particularnative plant (or a closely relatedspecies) that supports a wide varietyof species and see what turns up.Good plants to try are bird’s-foot-trefoil, verbascums, figworts, birches,willows and poplars (remember thatthe last two make sizable trees so becareful where you put them).

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Many garden plants are closelyrelated to our native wild plants andare equally acceptable as food plants,despite their garden pedigree and

showy flowers. Generally, the moresimilar a plant is to our native species’growth-form and leaf texture, themore likely it is to support plant-eating insects. Exotic plants, perhapswith thick waxy leaves, dense woollyhairs or strong-smelling foliage, areless likely to support many species,though there are often surprises as towho will eat what!

Generalists and specialists

Many plant-eating insects are‘generalists’, feeding on a wide varietyof plants, usually of a particulargrowth form. Some feed mostly onthe foliage of shrubs or trees, others

on herbaceous plants, and some ongrasses. Some minibeasts are,however, highly fussy, eating only afew or even a single species of plants.

For example,brimstonebutterflycaterpillars feedonly onbuckthorns,which are rarelygrown ingardens; andsmalltortoiseshell andpeacockcaterpillars and ahost of otherspecies, feed onlyon nettles.

Where a plant grows in the gardencan be very influential. As a rule,more minibeasts prefer food plantsgrowing in sunshine than in shadeand plants at the very edge of theborder or shrubbery are favourites.

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Peacock caterpillars on nettles.

Figwort sawfly.

Peacock butterfly.

Mullein moth caterpillar.

Picture-winged fly.

Flowers – minibeastbars

Probably the most valuable feature ofgardens for the most numerousminibeasts – the insects – is anabundance of flowers.

After all, flowers evolved specificallyto attract insects – nectar is manyinsects’ main energy source andprotein in pollen is vital in theproduction of their eggs. Regardlessof what they eat as larvae, many adultinsects visit flowers as their onlysource of food. Others use flowers asterritory markers or meeting andmating places, or even lairs fromwhich to catch other flower-visitingspecies. Some crab spiders, forexample, ‘mug’ unsuspecting visitors,changing their colour to match thatof the flower.

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Example of good garden border.

Crab spider – these often ‘mug’ insect visitorsto flowers.

and moths and many other insects.Buddleias, valerians, hebes, mints andmarjoram, and the whole of the daisyfamily are excellent. Daisies providean open ‘landing stage’ of petals andthe central ‘button’ provides nectarover quite a long period. Especiallyvaluable are achilleas, goldenrods,asters, and almost anything with the‘typical’ daisy structure.

Beware of doubles!

Don’t fill the garden with cultivars of‘double’ flowering or ‘flore pleno’varieties. While attractive, few ofthese provide nectar and pollen, andwhat little there is may be difficult forinsects to get to amongst the mass ofdoubled-up petals.

Flowers through the year

Aim to provide a good variety offlowers throughout most of the year.Overwintering queen bumblebees,

drone flies, small tortoiseshell andbrimstone butterflies rely on late-flowering Michaelmas daisies (asters),ice plants and ivies. On emerging inearly spring, these same insects useearly-flowering hellebores, narcissi,doronicums, viburnums and Prunusspecies such as the early flowering,cherries, cherry-plum etc (single-flowered varieties only – see above).Blackthorn is often not suitable forthe garden as it suckers too much.

A nectar surprise

Some garden plants provide nectar insurprising places – a cherry-laurel canswarm with nectaring insects, evenwhen not in flower. Look carefullyunderneath younger leaves for ‘extra-floral nectaries’. These are small greenpads at the base of the leaf veins thatattract ants, parasitic wasps and flies inparticular, and help protect the plantfrom leaf-eating insects.

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What sort of flowers are best forminibeasts?

Open structures

Most insects are attracted to flowerswith an open, flat structure that allowsaccess to the nectar without the needfor specialised mouthparts.

Particularly valuable are plants in therose family. The best roses are open-flowered, single varieties, but thefamily also includes hawthorns, crabapples, potentillas, and whitebeam(Sorbus) species including rowan,together with the variousblackberry/raspberry (Rubus) species.The saxifrage family, such assaxifrages, heucheras and astilbes,the stonecrop family (ice-plant andother Sedum species), and umbelliferssuch as angelica, lovage, fennel (andbolted carrots and parsnips), are also

particularly good. There are similarstructured flowers in many familiesand it soon becomes easy to get the‘jizz’ of what is likely to be a goodinsect plant.

Tubes for bees

Tubular or bell-shaped flowers caterfor a more specialised clientele.Snapdragons, foxgloves, penstemons,campanulas, ericas, and members ofthe pea and mint families such asbroom, clover, lavenders, Lamium(dead nettles) and Prunella (selfheal)species are all excellent for attractingbumblebees, solitary bees and thedomestic honey bee. While mostbees also visit the more open flowers,some specialise in tubular flowers.

A mixture

Some plants mass together lots of tinytubular flowers into one large bloom,providing a whole carpet of nectarsources, much loved by butterflies

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Thick-legged flower beetle on geranium.

Nectaring insects on ivy.

Soldier beetle.

Bumblebee on selfheal.

overwintering places, as does a goodcover of ivy on a wall or tree. Someminibeasts overwinter deep in thedead seed heads of flowering plants,so you can help them by waiting tilllate spring or even early summerbefore cutting seed heads back.

Some butterflies, moths, lacewings,ladybirds, droneflies, queenbumblebees, wasps and hornets seekout cool, undisturbed spots to pass the winter. They may come indoors,

to sheds, garages or unheated sparerooms. If disturbed, or they becometoo warm, they may wake and rapidlyuse up their energy reserves: if thishappens it is unlikely they will makeit through the winter. If you do needto heat somewhere that hasoverwintering minibeasts, try movingthem to another cool, protectedlocation, disturbing them as little aspossible.

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Cover – minibeasthide & seek

Most garden minibeasts needsomewhere to hide at certain times,either to sleep, escape from predatorsor shelter from the rain or sun.

Cover is very important so don’t betoo tidy in the garden. Densevegetation, tussocky grasses or sedgesand plants with a ‘rosette’ of leavesthat minibeasts can get beneath; alloffer good retreats. Dead leaves, grassthatch, old seed heads and hollow

stems are all good hideaway places.Think ‘minibeast’ before tidying thedead material away and keep somethroughout the winter.

Winter retreats

Many minibeasts hibernate, and coveris essential for them to overwintersuccessfully in our gardens. Stones,bits of wood, loose bark, fissured barkon older trees (the flaky bark of oldapple trees is excellent) – anything thatcreatures can get into or underneath isvaluable, as is a cool winter-timecompost heap. Evergreens with tightlypacked leaves or needles provide

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Hibernating herald moth.

Moulting centipede.

Lesser marsh grasshopper.

Woodlouse spider and pill woodlouse.

Sun-baked baresurfaces

Any bare ground,rock or wood infull sunshinerapidly warms upand may be 10oChotter than areaswith plants. Baresoil in thevegetable patch,concrete paths,rockery rocks, house or shed walls –especially when facing roughly south– are regular sunbathing spots forminibeasts that need to warm upbefore they can get on with their dailylives. Particularly useful are those thatwarm up quickly in the morning,allowing minibeasts an early start.Other predatory minibeasts takeadvantage of these sunbathers. Thesepredators are fast, have prominentjaws and large eyes with good 3-Dvision. They are the big cats of theminibeast world – a stealthy approachfollowed by a fast dash across anopen space to catch unwary prey.

Sun-traps

Other useful hot spots are sun-trapswithin the shrubbery or herbaceousborder, especially if amongst nectarflowers. Gaps or indentations alongthe edges, especially south-facingones, create shelter from cool winds.

Try and make sure that the gardenoffers plenty of little hot-spotsthroughout the day in a variety ofsituations. These are often the bestplaces for minibeast watching.

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Hot-spots –minibeast sun-bathers

Minibeasts are, almost withoutexception, ‘cold blooded’. This doesnot mean they work at lower bodytemperatures than us – some actuallyhave a higher temperature than wedo. It means that they cannotgenerate their own body heat like wedo and they must get their body heatfrom external sources, usually from

sunshine. Little warm spots in thegarden are therefore vital forminibeasts. They need not be verylarge – but they are very important.

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Wolf spider with egg ball.

Basking ruby-tail wasp.

Basking red admiral butterfly.Bare soil and stone is a habitat in its own right.

Ground beetle.

Exit holes of wood-boring beetles areoften used as nests by solitary bees,as well as small solitary wasps thatstock their nests with aphids, plant-hoppers or weevils. Related speciesnest in broken hollow plant stems.

Fallen wood lying on the soil is usuallydamp, with active fungi, and may behome to minibeasts such as lesserstag, rhinoceros and longhorn beetles.In the south , there may also be thehuge stag beetle itself – a species forwhich England is internationallyimportant and which is a frequentgarden inhabitant.

You can make special habitat piles ofdead wood for these species. Big isbeautiful – go for branches or trunksin preference to twigs. It’s best to sitethese at the edge of a shady area or indappled sunshine (but not in full sun)to get a good balance of warmth andmoisture – it should never be allowedto dry out.

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Deadstuff –minibeasts anddecay

Minibeasts are nature’s ‘clean-upgang’, working with fungi to clearaway dead plants; everything fromfallen leaves to tree trunks, and returnthem to the soil. A well-madecompost heap teems with life and isexcellent for minibeast watching.

Leaving dead plant material to decayaway naturally greatly increases thediversity of creatures in your garden. Ifyou find it unsightly, hide fallen leavesand plant litter into ‘habitat piles’, buttry and leave some where it lies on thesoil.

Dead wood

Decaying dead wood attracts a wholesuite of minibeasts, often highlycolourful, especially beetles and

hoverflies. Someuse dead woodwhile it is stillattached to theliving tree. Unlessactually diseased(which is not thesame as decaying!)there’s usually noneed to removethis dead woodunless it’s likely tobe a safety hazardwhen it eventuallyfalls.

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Lesser stag beetle.

Wasp beetle.Little mournful wasp outside its burrow.

Habitat pile of dead wood.

St Mark’s fly in compost heap.

Woodlouse.

Devil’s coach horse beetle.

The garden pond –minibeast beach,pool and wateringhole

A garden pond hugely increases theattractiveness of the garden forminibeasts. Even a very small waterbody will very quickly bring additionalspecies. However, do try and makeyour pond as large as you can (whilekeeping it safe if you have youngchildren). The larger the pond, thegreater the variety of differentminibeast microhabitats there can be.

The pond edge

Go for an edge that provides amixture of cover and open ground.Positioning plants so that those in thewater gently mingle with those in aneighbouring border allows

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A good garden pond. Sue Ellis

Doli fly.

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Emergent plants – ones that rootunderwater but grow though the surface – are vital for minibeasts.Many pond-dwellers, such asdragonflies, damselflies, alderfliesand mayflies, need an emerging stemthat will let them climb out of thewater before turning into adults.Evidence is easily found in the ghost-like empty skins of larvae sometimesfound still clinging to emergentplants. The process of a larvamoulting into an adult is fascinatingto watch.

Beware of aliens!

Avoid invasive alien plants likeparrot’s feather Myriophyllumaquaticum, New Zealand pygmyweedCrassula helmsii (sometimes sold asTillaea recurva) and floatingpennywort Hydrocotyleranunculoides. They may seem idealas minibeast habitat but will take overyour pond and all too easily escapeinto the wild, where they doincalculable damage to nativewildlife habitats.

Water depth and fish

A pond doesn’t need to beparticularly deep for minibeasts.Indeed, shallow water is warmer andbetter for most species. Large areas ofopen water are far too hazardous formost species on the look-out forpredators. Think before introducing

fish as they reduce the numbers ofminibeasts in the pond by eatingthem, and bottom-grubbers stir upthe sediment, making the watercloudy. If there really is plenty ofweedy cover in the pond, thenminibeasts can just about cope with a few fish, but go for sticklebacks(which will help stop mosquitoesbreeding in your pond), rather thangoldfish, tench or carp.

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minibeasts to come and go in safety,while open areas allow them tosunbathe and hunt. Try to keep small,gently-sloping muddy or sandy‘beaches’ free of plants. A host ofsmall creatures will use them tosunbathe and hunt over, includinggreen ‘doli’ flies, ground and rovebeetles and wolf spiders. Solitary beesand wasps may collect mud on these‘beaches’ to capoff their nests.

If your pondplants are toorampant, then trymaking a beachout of coarsesterile shingle orgravel. Differentminibeasts willlive on thatcompared withthose usingsand/mud, sowhy not try both?

Pond plants

Go for a good mixture of floating,submerged and emerging species.Submerged plants with finelydissected (frilly) leaves such asmilfoil, hornwort, starwort and waterviolet are good oxygenators andprovide underwater cover andhunting grounds for aquaticminibeasts like water beetles,dragonfly larvae and water spiders.Floating plants also provide cover,prevent the water going green, andprovide ‘platforms’ on whichminibeasts can sunbathe, hunt andmate – and a few are good foodplants too. Caterpillars of brown andwhite china-mark moths feed onvarious floating plants, and commonwaterweed Potamogeton natans isthe food plant of an attractivebronze and silver ‘reed’ beetle.

Reed beetles.

Alder fly.

Water beetle.

Pond skater.

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wildlife gardener may wish to wagewar against a particularly difficultoutbreak. Try organic pesticides suchas soft soap and plant-derivedchemicals that are short lasting,though they are toxic to nearly allminibeasts – friend and foe alike.Whenever pesticides are used, alwaysbe ultra-careful to avoid any ‘drifting’away from the target and killingharmless or beneficial species. Inparticular, avoid using chemicalsanywhere near the garden pond, asaquatic species are especiallyvulnerable. It is possible to buy‘biological control agents’ to reducepest numbers, though most work wellonly in confined places such asgreenhouses.

Wasps and bees

The black and yellow social waspsthat can sting are a mixed blessing.

They are valuablepredators ofmany pestspecies but arealso sometimesan intolerable(and sometimesdangerous)nuisance to ourenjoyment of thegarden. Whetherto live with awasps’ nest in thegarden or to getin professional

help to eradicate it (never try ityourself) is an individual choice,depending on the position of the nestand the danger to people and pets.

Bumblebees and solitary bees (anddomestic honeybees) are far lessaggressive, and gardens are nowimportant habitats for them. Onlyconsider having a bumblebee nestremoved if it is very close to achildren’s play area.

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Pests – minibeastswe love to hate

A fairly small number of minibeastsgives the rest a bad name by eatingthe plants we like to grow in ourgardens.

A word in their defence…

Gardening books and pesticideadverts demonise pests as raveninghoards of malevolent creatures, benton destruction. But think ‘minibeast’for a moment – they are just doingwhat comes naturally and takingadvantage of lots of their food plants,grown close together, often varietiesthat we have bred to be particularlysucculent or tasty. No wonder theymove in and multiply – we’ve justprovided their favourite restaurant socan we really blame them? Pests arereally only species whose food plantswe have chosen to grow, and this hasled to conflict.

Learning to live with pests

There are, however, plenty of speciesof slugs, snails, caterpillars, aphids,bugs, flea beetles, weevils, chafers,wireworms, leatherjackets and manyothers that do make themselvespretty unwelcome, even to the mostwildlife-friendly gardener. The trick isto work out what is tolerable –something that is likely to be differentfor each garden and gardener. Awhole plant reduced to a stump isunlikely to be tolerated, but it’s easyto train yourself to overlook the oddhole in the edge of a leaf or end of ashoot spun together with silk.

What about the really pesky pests?There are several options. The easiestis simply not to grow those plantsthat you have found to be especiallyvulnerable. For example, growing lotsof hostas in a shady damp garden onclay soil is just asking for trouble fromslugs. Planting ‘cottage garden’ stylein a jumble of varieties is likely toreduce the effects of pests, whosenumbers build up more easily in largeswathes of a single species.

Chemical warfare – pesticides

It is easy to preach against the use ofchemicals, and the fully organicgarden is likely to be best forminibeasts. There are, however,occasions when pests do overstepthe mark and even the keenest Queen dark wasp.

Large red slug.

Lily beetle.

Pleasure fromminibeasts –studying them inyour garden

Being right on the doorstep –sometimes literally – means thatminibeasts can be studied muchmore closely than larger animals.

They can be watched going abouttheir private lives in the garden, orbrought indoors in transparent tubesor bug boxes to be studied with amagnifying glass. The Naturalists’

Handbooks series (Richmond Press)gives ideas for activities on a widevariety of invertebrate groups, fromladybirds and ground beetles toanimals under stones and logs, andinsects and nettles.

Standing by an outside light on awarm, muggy, moonless night to seewhat turns up for a couple of hoursafter sunset is an effective way offinding nocturnal minibeasts youwould not usually encounter. Lots ofmoths, lacewings, caddisflies, beetles,craneflies, ichneumon wasps andmany more night-flying insects willturn up. Ground beetles, harvestmen,orb-web and jumping spiders willalso emerge to capture prey that hasbeen attracted to the light.

Minibeasts in the garden provide anendless source of fascination for youngand old. What better way of imbuingan interest and respect for the livingworld than by encouraging children tosatisfy their innate curiosity andenthusiasm for life by studying them?

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Beneficial species –minibeasts weshould love

Rather than using pesticides, try tocontrol pests by making your garden‘predator-friendly’.

Ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflieseat aphids. Ground and rove beetlestackle slugs and caterpillars, whilevarious spiders and parasitic waspsand flies limit the numbers of mostother minibeasts. Providing cover andnectar sources encourages predatorsand parasitic species to live in thegarden and cuts down the numbersof pests.

Minibeast homes

By far the best way to encourageminibeasts to live in your garden is togarden for their needs, providingcover, nectar, decaying plant materialand nesting sites.

You can also, however, buy – orbetter still, make – structures toencourage them to stay in the garden.There are artificial bumblebee nests, abit like inverted ceramic plant pots,which can be stuffed with soft deadgrass for nesting material. A piece ofwood drilled with variously sizedholes makes nest sites for solitarybees and wasps, as does a series ofhollow bamboo tubes crammed intoa frame, mimicking the ends ofbroken stems. There are also ladybirdand lacewing ‘hibernacula’, similar tobird boxes, where they (and otherspecies) can safely pass the winter.Some of these work better thanothers and don’t be too disappointedif the local bumblebees ignore yourcustomised home and move in underthe garden shed!

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Home for mason bees. Deb Proctor

Seven-spot ladybird.

Brown lacewing.

Mother of pearl moth.

Sexton beetle.

Minibeast spotting. Paul Glendell/Natural England

Contacts

Natural England 1 East ParadeSheffield, S1 2ETEnquiry Service: 0845 600 3078enquiries@naturalengland.org.ukwww.naturalengland.org.uk

Butterfly Conservation Manor Yard, East LulworthWareham, Dorset, BH20 5QP Tel: 0870 7744309www.butterfly-conservation.org

BugLife – The InvertebrateConservation Trust 170A Park Road, Peterborough, PE1 2UF Tel: 01733 201210 www.buglife.org.uk

People’s Trust for EndangeredSpecies15 Cloisters House8 Battersea Park RoadLondon, SW8 4BG Tel: 020 7498 4533www.ptes.org

The Amateur Entomologists’ SocietyPO Box 8774, London, SW7 5ZGcontact@amentsoc.orgwww.amentsoc.org

Royal Entomological Societyreg@royensoc.demon.co.ukwww.royensoc.co.uk

Further information

This is one of a range of wildlifegardening booklets published byNatural England. For more details,contact the Natural England EnquiryService on 0845 600 3078 or e-mailenquiries@naturalengland.org.uk

Natural England also producesGardening with wildlife in mind, anillustrated wildlife reference.Originally on CD but now alsoavailable on-line, Gardening withwildlife in mind has detailedinformation on 800 plants andanimal species often found in ourgardens, and shows how they areecologically linked. Seewww.plantpress.com

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Other titles

Minibeast identification

There are thousands of species thatmight turn up in the garden, and nosingle guide can ever be adequate. Agood start is the Collins Field Guideseries, which has volumes on insects,spiders and molluscs and freshwaterlife. Another is:

Chinery, M. Insects of Britain andWestern Europe. A&C Black. 2007.

Wildlife gardening for minibeasts

Baines, C. How to make a wildlifegarden. Frances Lincoln. 2000.

Butterfly Conservation. Gardening forbutterflies. 1991.

Thompson, K. No nettles required: thereassuring truth about wildlifegardening. Eden Project Books. 2006.

Fellowes, M. & Callaghan, A. Gardenentomology: the Royal EntomologicalSociety’s introduction to gardeninsects. 2003.

O’Toole, C. The red mason bee. Apractical guide to managing ‘Osmiarufa’ as a pollinator in gardens,allotments and orchards. OsmiaPublications. 2000.

People’s Trust for EndangeredSpecies. Stag beetle friendlygardening. 2003.

Ryrie, C. Wildlife gardening. Cassell.2003.

Garden minibeast ecology

Chinery, M. Garden wildlife of Britainand Europe. HarperCollins. 1997.

Owen, J. The ecology of the garden:the first 15 years. CambridgeUniversity Press. 1991.

Studying minibeasts

Baker, N. Nick Baker’s bug book.Discover the world of minibeasts. NewHolland. 2002.

Imes, R. Beginner’s guide toentomology. Chancellor Press. 2000.

Minibeast conservation

Fry, R & Lonsdale, D. Habitatconservation for invertebrates – aneglected green issue. The AmateurEntomologists’ Society. 1991.

Kirby, P. Habitat management forinvertebrates: a practical handbook.JNCC/RSPB (edn 2). 2001.

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Ivy provides food and shelter for many creatures.

Hoverfly on Californian poppy.

Natural England works for people, places and natureto conserve and enhance biodiversity, landscapes andwildlife in rural, urban, coastal and marine areas.We conserve and enhance the natural environment for its intrinsic value, the wellbeing and enjoyment of people, and the economic prosperity it brings.

www.naturalengland.org.uk

© Natural England 2007

ISBN 978-1-84754-013-3

Catalogue code NE22

Written by Dr Roger Key. Designed by Coral Design Management.Photography: All photographs are by Roger Key/Natural England unlessstated otherwise. Front cover image: dead-nettle leaf beetle.