Compared to gardens, nature does not leave any little patch of soil uncovered for long. The protection of the plants and the dead plant material, like leaves, in between them are really important for many of our much loved insects.  It is where they eat and it is (part of) what they eat before they turn into flying insects. This makes dense planting and dead plant material as important for pollinating insects as flowering plants.

 

We all know that caterpillars turn into butterflies. But what do ladybird look like as babies? Click on the image of a ladybid lavae.