Not enamoured by it, but, as you say, they have to eat and live, too.
The first step to being a good human is realising that very little exists for your personal entertainment. The most respected biologists in the world or even the most powerful super-computer can't even begin to grasp how complex natural ecology is. Trying to micromanage it at garden scale to benefit a few popular insects when you don't even understand their basic life cycle and habits is never going to end well. My advice is to just set the stage then just sit back and enjoy the show.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
However, before the moths found us, our little oasis was shared by many different bees, butterflies, and insects, each taking a small share of the nectar. Now 3 moths just gobble up everybody's dinner and nobody else has anything to eat. The moths have become invasive. Less pollination happens because 3 moths suck up everything in full instead of 30 taking a little and going from flower to flower.
That's not how plants or insects work. If you don't understand how plants and insects work how do you hope to 'balance things out'? Nature has been doing this for millennia without you and your netting deciding who gets food and who doesn't. You sound like the tabloid newspaper version of a gardener, 'Invasive moths taking food from the mouths of our hard-working British bees'
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Not enamoured by it, but, as you say, they have to eat and live, too.
The first step to being a good human is realising that very little exists for your personal entertainment. The most respected biologists in the world or even the most powerful super-computer can't even begin to grasp how complex natural ecology is. Trying to micromanage it at garden scale to benefit a few popular insects when you don't even understand their basic life cycle and habits is never going to end well. My advice is to just set the stage then just sit back and enjoy the show.
It really isn't. Humans die, bees die, everything dies. There is no tragedy in it. It's how the world works and renews itself.Plants like borage reload nectar after about 20 minutes. I wouldn't worry.
Moths are just as important as bees, but less publically celebrated as they are not perceived as charismatic; as with parasitic wasps and spiders that both predate bees. The best we can do is provide diverse habitats and flora, where we can, and let them get on with it. We don't to control the re-building of eco-systems - we just get to butt out, stop cutting things down, spraying things, building on every inch of land, covering everything in concrete. Enjoy the urge to wonder not control.
I am not starving out the moths. just making sure everybody gets a share.
It happened with my squirrels and the seagulls who visit us also.
At the beginning there were like 3 squirrels who would visit. Each would get a bit of the food and they shared it, eating together. Suddenly, a new squirrel arrived on the scene. All he did all day was chase the "home" squirrels, sometimes biting and injuring them, until he was the only one left. Instead of taking a share, he wanted to be the only one to gobble up all the food.
It was the same with the seagulls. I was feeding 1 adult who was sharing it with 3 babies who had suddenly arrived from nowhere. She kind of "adopted" the young birds and shared the food. Suddenly, a new bird arrived, and all he was doing was attacking the 4 "home" sea gulls and chasing them away.
I provided NO food to the attacking squirrel or the lone bully seagull. Suddenly the "bullies" were expending energy flying and running and chasing, and getting no food. They have both learned to pick up some bits of crumbs while I feed mainly the "home" squirrels and the "home" birds.
Nature is a cruel place where "survival of the fittest" sees only the strong bully get everything and flourish while the innocent good ones starve and die out. My oasis that I have created is not nature. I balance things out such that they only get a part of the food, enough to get by, while others who have been there long get their share and co-exist.
Nature is a cruel place where "survival of the fittest" sees only the strong bully get everything and flourish while the innocent good ones starve and die out.
Says the human sitting in his concrete jungle feeding farmed food to invasive species. What happens to all the baby birds that your squirrels and gulls eat? Those birds could have eaten the caterpillars that turned into the moths that are now causing your bees to starve. You balance things out in your garden but who balances out the harm you're causing with your well intentioned but incorrect actions?
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Squirrels used to bring down bird feeders and dig up everything, scare the little birds away. But now the 2 "home" squirrels are well fed and not starving, and they even reject my flapjack bites and ask only for their favourite nuts. It is their territory and others don't come. The little birds are suddenly safe from squirrels.
The same with the seagulls. They don't attack other birds. I can't feed them all they want, but I make sure they don't starve. They get a bit from me and then fly out to forage for more. We co-exist. It is a community.
Nature isn't cruel. Death isn't cruel. It just is. We are the fleeting visitors. We insist in seeing stories everywhere and personal intent. Adult chimps eat new-born chimps. We like to be reassured by warm and fluufy narratives but they don't get us very far.
There is a fox, too, who gets meat 2 or 3 times a week. And Robin lives in the house I made for him hidden in the ivy. There are biscuits in the planted areas 3 times a week Hog the hedgehog hunts in for slugs and nails. They all hide or get up the trees when one of the neighbour's 2 cats come to look for mice in the side yard and to smell the catnip.
Posts
I feel it is my duty to balance things out.
It happened with my squirrels and the seagulls who visit us also.
At the beginning there were like 3 squirrels who would visit. Each would get a bit of the food and they shared it, eating together. Suddenly, a new squirrel arrived on the scene. All he did all day was chase the "home" squirrels, sometimes biting and injuring them, until he was the only one left. Instead of taking a share, he wanted to be the only one to gobble up all the food.
It was the same with the seagulls. I was feeding 1 adult who was sharing it with 3 babies who had suddenly arrived from nowhere. She kind of "adopted" the young birds and shared the food. Suddenly, a new bird arrived, and all he was doing was attacking the 4 "home" sea gulls and chasing them away.
I provided NO food to the attacking squirrel or the lone bully seagull. Suddenly the "bullies" were expending energy flying and running and chasing, and getting no food. They have both learned to pick up some bits of crumbs while I feed mainly the "home" squirrels and the "home" birds.
Nature is a cruel place where "survival of the fittest" sees only the strong bully get everything and flourish while the innocent good ones starve and die out.
My oasis that I have created is not nature. I balance things out such that they only get a part of the food, enough to get by, while others who have been there long get their share and co-exist.
The same with the seagulls. They don't attack other birds. I can't feed them all they want, but I make sure they don't starve. They get a bit from me and then fly out to forage for more. We co-exist. It is a community.
There is a fox, too, who gets meat 2 or 3 times a week.
And Robin lives in the house I made for him hidden in the ivy.
There are biscuits in the planted areas 3 times a week Hog the hedgehog hunts in for slugs and nails.
They all hide or get up the trees when one of the neighbour's 2 cats come to look for mice in the side yard and to smell the catnip.
and learn about the real stuff, not a Disneyfied version of it.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.