AIBU to want to talk about butter-

[NinjaInFluffyPJs]

-flies!
Where are they? I usually get a lot in my garden but this year there wasn't a single butterfly yet, few bees only and number of bumblbees. My garden is usually heaving with all of these.
What the hell are people spraying around? I might bloody just buy some.

And aphids are EVERYBLOODYWHERE including plants they are not supposed to eat normally.
Wth😑 And just 1 frog so far. Usually I have at least 4.

Come and moan with me about the lack of bugs and other creatures.

we’ve left a bit of our lawn wild, and it’s all happy bees and crawly things. sterile gardens aren’t good for the ecosystem!

Seen loads of caterpillars so maybe the butterflies are just late this year? Tons of bumblebees which is good. No native ladybirds though :(

@3luckystars why can’t you find any Lurpak? Silver and red is unsalted, silver and blue is salted. Blocks or spreadable. Am I missing context from another thread?

Agree, not seen many butterflies here in the south east. Seen quite a lot of bees though.

No ladybirds I'm afraid. Could really do with them on my roses. Although they seem quite clear of aphids at the moment. I won't spray them with insecticide so spent several weeks regularly hosing them with a strong water spray.

Flies aplenty. Every time I open my back door or a window at least one fly comes in. The sound of their buzzing drives me mad so I can't rest until I've either got them out or killed them. The dog is terrified of them so is spending quite a bit of time upstairs hiding under the spare bed.

You can actually order ladybirds to release on to your plants and deal with the aphids...

It's not wasp season yet according to the man who came to remove the bees from our chimney. They come later.

Have seen butterflies in our garden but their favourite flowers aren't out yet.

I had one of those monster continental wasps in my bathroom last week. Why do they wait until you are at your most vulnerable (on the loo, mid-stream lol) before flying in the window and going straight into offensive mode?

A few butterflies but they went into hiding when it got cold again. Plenty honey bees although possibly that's because I have two hives in the garden!

Loads and loads of gnats flying in my face when cycling.

I have plenty of butter and plenty of bees. Odd.

I saw a couple of butterflies when we had that mini-heatwave in april. But my garden is full of ladybirds! I'm very protective over them and if I find a larva in the house I pop it on a shoot with lots of aphids. There's some in pupa stage stuck to the leaves on my roses. The aphids were terrible this year until the ladybirds took up residence. It's in their larval stage that they're the most voracious hunters. Adults are quite slow and bumbling.

I didn't see any ladybirds for a few years, so I bought some larvae, and have done for the last 3 years. Each year I see a couple of ladybirds before I buy any but not many in spite of having little houses for them and lots of aphids. I have found a single larvae on a plant so moved him to a plant that was infested with aphids, most of the aphids have gone, he got bigger and haven't seen him for a few days, hope he wasn't eaten.

Saw a butterfly earlier in the year, just one, and a few bees, hoping for more as the lavender is about to flower.

Wheresmymojo I didn't know that, thank you. I shall look into it.

They're lovely to have in the garden even if you don't have roses under siege.

OP I'm so glad it's not just me telling people about Harlequins. Honestly everytime I tell someone about the cannibalistic, STD carrying, many spotted Harlequins invading, they do tend to look at me like I might have any over active imagination!

We really were inundated with them, huge clumps of them in the corners or windows and doors

@wheresmymojo I know but have you seen the prices😮

I had similar complaints about butterflies and bees from family and friends on a continent so I was curious after realising I have not seen a single one in here this year.

Haha at you thinking this is about butter 😁 I assumed I will get more people in by tricking them into thinking it's about food rather than (pretty) bugs😁

@ToPlanZ Yeah. I had to send my mum an article about STD riddled harlequins so she would stop laughing🤷‍♀️

The only bees I've seen have been dying and can't be revived with sugar water. I've seen no butterflies or large moths, only a few tiny ones. No mosquitoes. No lacewings or aphids.
Our cellar spiders seem to have mostly disappeared so I don't know if they are starving and eating each other.
We have loads of flies, and a few ladybirds.

I've seen a few fluttery little cunts eyeing up my brassicas.

Quite a few butterflies here in the north of Germany. But no mosquitoes at all so far this year? Of course I don‘t miss them but I do worry about the that eat them.

My garden is usually butterfly central (mostly for cabbage whites) as I'm the only person locally who has a garden full of plants & flowers.
It's generally patio, decking, fake lawns if any & plastic buxus round here.
This year I haven't seen a single butterfly, although for some reason we have half a dozen burnet moths flying around the garden all day.
Have a lot more birds than usual & a squirrel (a first for my garden)
Have a few bees too.

Do any of you have that bug hotels? Do they actually use them?
I am thinking about what to do to help them more. I am planting their favourite plants, have a eild area in a back, but this year is just odd. I might have to polinate my strawberries myself.

All I got from bug hotels and bird boxes were wasp nests. The ladybirds seem to like my mature Cinquefoil, which is about 5 feet high. The middle bit is twiggy, and they sit in the forks of the twigs.

I've seen a few fluttery little cunts eyeing up my brassicas.

I planted few specially for them so they leave my goosberry alone😁
Neither has been touched this year

@TheInebriati thanks! I will have a look at that one too.

I hoped it would be about butter, so I could share my photo of the world's largest butter Krishna.



@marcopront go on then. I am curious 😁

I'll try again

@marcopront that's amazing! 😂