STOP 8: St. Mary's Community Garden

This plant grows in meadows and road verges throughout the UK. It flowers from July through to September. They are also known as moonpenny because they appear to glow after dark.

Generally snails come out at night to feed and rest during the days. They have 14,000 teeth on their tongue to help them! Snails have been on the earth for 600 millions years. In fact, they are the oldest known animal species. 

In Britain we have 270 species of bee, around 250 of what are known as solitary bees. Three of these species use snail shells as homes - filling them with leaves in and out! Mainbee is a bumblebee - there are 24 different species of these in the UK but they all have hair to help them keep warm. They do have a sting but if they feel threatened tend to first wave their leg at you rather than stinging! So back off if you see them raise their leg at you. Bumblebees make nests but they tend to be much smaller (50-400 worker bees rather than 50,000 in a honey bee hive) than the honey bee ones and in the ground or cavities in buildings and trees. If you want to help Mainbee and friends then plant flowers such as red clover, lavender, snapdragons, runner beans, salvia, borage, cosmos, lungwort and comfrey. And go on a monthly bumblebee ramble, sending records to the BeeWalk survey.

There are 47 different ladybirds in the UK and not all of them are red with black spots! Some even have stripes! They have to hibernate overwinter in a warm spot so you can help them by making homes for them in the garden (2 or 3 pine cones tied together with wire will suffice). They lay their eggs on leaves then after a few weeks they hatch into little larvae that look nothing like the adults. These grow and shed their skins 3 or 4 times before pupating then emerging as adults in April or May. This process is called complete metamorphosis (just like a butterfly) and speeds up if the weather is warmer.

The female grasshopper lays her eggs in the soil and perfect little grasshopper nymphs will emerge in the spring. They grow and shed their skin until they are adult size. Mainbee loves the grasshopper as it is nearly as tuneful as her. They use pegs on their back legs to rub against their front legs to produce this “stridulating” sound. Why? To attract a female of course and to shout about its territory. Crickets can be distinguished from grasshoppers because they have much longer antennae.