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Which insects feed from primrose flowers?

Sazz101Sazz101 Posts: 248
in Wildlife gardening
Hello! Wild primroses love my chalky garden, and I’ve spent some time this spring relocating them all to one sunny bank. I’ve noticed and the few honey bees and bumble bees I’ve had completely ignore them and head for the crocus / hellebore / Iris reticulata.

Does anyone know which creatures do like primrose nectar?
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Posts

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    No idea but something must or they wouldn't seed everywhere. Sparrows and slugs are partial to the flowers 😒
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Welcome to the fun world of flower morphology and insect diversity. Bee species vary in tongue length. Honey bees and some bumbles have short tongues which mean they can't access the flowers with deep tubes protecting the nectar. This doesn't stop some of them chewing holes in the side of the flower but that's a different matter. Butterflies and bee flies have long tongues and will visit primulas as will some of the bumbles with longer tongues. I guess small insects can climb inside too
    Flowers want to ensure they get pollinated so making sure only some insects can visit and flowering at a time of year when there are fewer other flowers species about maximises their potential.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • Sazz101Sazz101 Posts: 248
    Thanks @wild edges and @B3 for your responses. Yes, my fat pigeons love them too!

    Will keep an eye out for the smaller things feeding on them. 
  • ViewAheadViewAhead Posts: 866
    I have never planted any, but have them everywhere, so they are doing something right, promiscuity wise! 😁  
  • RedwingRedwing Posts: 1,511
    One surprising insect important in primrose seed dispersal is ants.  They are attracted by a chemical in the flowers and transport the seeds back to their nests where some of them germinate.  Learned that from Chris Packham.
    Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    Redwing said:
    One surprising insect important in primrose seed dispersal is ants.  They are attracted by a chemical in the flowers and transport the seeds back to their nests where some of them germinate.  Learned that from Chris Packham.
    It's called myrmecochory and Cyclamen are distributed like this


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • RubytooRubytoo Posts: 1,630
    Wild edges beat me to Bee flies and they very much like primroses here in the garden.

    If anyone is interested.
    https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/bee-flies-cute-bee-mimic-with-a-dark-side.html

    We have them here and one year watched the little so and so's flicking eggs down into an area where we had a load of ground mining bee's.
    But Bee flies are still novel and (dare I say) kind of cute. 
  • Sazz101Sazz101 Posts: 248
    Thank you for sharing @Rubytoo. We had loads of bee flys last year. Sad to learn that they are parasites for my very small Collete bee community. 
  • RubytooRubytoo Posts: 1,630
    @Sazz101
    Maybe, maybe not, it does say in the article.

    Bee-flies do not have a negative impact on solitary bee populations or their other hosts and parasitism is all part of a healthy ecosystem.

    We still seem to have quite a few miners despite the Bee flies.
    So I hope your little colony will be okay, fingers crossed.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Now there's  a word @nutcutlet !
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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