Last autumn one of our Christmas trees by the vegetable garden was covered in aphids and it became a slightly hazardous business getting through the gate. The sticky honeydew they exude attracted large numbers of sleepy wasps and lots of ants that fought over the spoils. As winter came they gradually disappeared and were forgotten about until about a month ago when I noticed a dark patch on the tree trunk as I walked down the garden. At first there were only enough of the little black beasts to cover a dinner plate but after a day or two they went all round the trunk and up it from a height of about 5 feet to 15 feet. Although there are five other Christmas trees in the group, none of the others were affected. By the end of the week no part of the tree over 5 feet was un-affected! The ground underneath it began to get sticky and the first ants began to make their way up to stake their claim on the honeydew. From then on, the whole tree seemed to be alive with insects. Ladybirds arrived to lay their eggs, along with hover- flies and various other things I had not seen before.
Hoverflies do a wonderful job in the garden pollinating flowers and like ladybirds, their lave eat vast quantities of aphids – up to 800 in the ten days before they pupate! The females, which which mimic bees and wasps with their yellow and black striped bodies but only have two wings instead of four, can smell aphids and lay their eggs among them. Each female may lay 100 eggs a day which hatch after three or four days and then begin to battle with the ants, who try to protect the aphids so that they can drink their honeydew. Some types of hoverfly lawe produce a protective slime which deters the ants and I think we must have had some of these, as the whole tree and its surroundings became a slimy, stick mess!
Although the aphids are fast breeders, they could not keep up with all the predators flying in and their numbers soon began to fall. When I looked this morning there were only a few hungry looking lava on the tree. Aint nature wonderful!
We have just finished shearing the sheep. Its just as well they are all fairly tame as bad backs and sheep shearing
dont go together! Old shepherds always say that time watching sheep is never wasted and this proved to be the case a few days ago. Beryl did not look “right”, she was restless and agitated. After the last move to fresh grass she had been loose and made her bottom dirty. I decided to look for fly strike or maggots in her wool. Sure enough there they were, tiny maggots wriggling about in her wool. If left they would start to eat her
alive, so it was off with her overcoat and on with some cream! I am no expert shearer and could not bend to do her the proper way but we got it all off while she stood up. With the flies about we decided to do the lot and son John proved very nifty with the shears while I held the sheep. Jake the ram was the best behaved and he seemed to enjoy the attention. They all look rather comical but at least there is no wool left for maggots to hide in and Beryl is no worse for wear.
The lambs look nearly as big as their mums now and except for two, are all nice and tame. Snowball has obviously told her young rams all about mint sauce and they will have nothing to do with me! If anyone would like to spin some wool, I have plenty to spare. Wendy Bathurst