Gardening for Insects by Chris Bentley

During the afternoon of ‘Friends’ day on Saturday 14^th October, former warden Chris Bentley gave an excellent talk in the Discovery Centre on ‘Gardening for Insects’ to members of The Friends.

Chris is well known both locally and nationally for his passion and expertise relating to insects. Both of these aspects came through in his talk which was very well received by the audience.

His comprehensive talk included facts about the staggering numbers of insects that can be found in gardens, including common insects that we all may be able to identify – perhaps with a little help from technology! He also talked about what insects need and gave suggestions for lots of insect friendly plants and landscape features that can benefit insects.

The importance of insects cannot be underestimated and potentially catastrophic, recent declines are well known and publicised. The BTO suggest that the gardens of the UK make up an area approximately the size of Suffolk, therefore what we do in our gardens is important.

Chris’s talk provided lots of inspiration and as Tesco says ’Every little helps!’