My son pointed out to me today that the garden has lots and lots of flowers. What can I say? He’s not wrong… He spotted the first peonies flowering, and that’s for some reason always a bit special. But I’m biased. I think all my plants are special. And my garden, as you heard fromContinueContinue reading “Flowers aplenty”
Tag Archives: insects
Shit post
So many beetle wings in one concentrated spot, it’s almost beautiful… Yes. You saw it right. I just posted a picture of a big fat turd on my blog. You’ll have to learn to live with it. As I was walking around in bear country this morning, I was particularly mindful of the shittier circumstances.ContinueContinue reading “Shit post”
How are you today?
“How are you today?” my therapist asked me. I responded with a laugh – not sure what I was laughing about. I wasn’t sure. How am I today? “I feel good, I guess… Busy, hot and sweaty,” I said. “Running around, dousing fires.” “And the parking here sucks! Sorry I’m late,” I added. It prettyContinueContinue reading “How are you today?”
Alarming insect declines
Over the course of the past five years, many scientific papers have been written about insect declines – some simply reporting patterns in observational data, while others have adopted rigorous monitoring combined with measurements of potential factors contributing to shifts in insect diversity and abundance. There are debates ongoing between entomologists and conservationists as toContinueContinue reading “Alarming insect declines”
The final phase
A short post today. I spent my afternoon getting the final phase of my light pollution experiment going. In this final phase, we will investigate whether light pollution disrupts feeding by an insect herbivore on six plant species. In the picture below you can see the sleeve cages I use to keep the herbivores onContinueContinue reading “The final phase”
A flower feast
Not much to see here today – except some pictures of the new field experiment. I went out to water the plants this afternoon, and the fields were – quite literally – buzzing with activity. This is the first year that I actively work on this plant species, Tansy, as a model system. (I haveContinueContinue reading “A flower feast”
A silly clown
It’s quite funny how hysterical professional gardeners and greenhouse staff get when they see aphids. I get it, aphids are the devil – that is, when you’re a tomato grower or whatever. I cannot count count the number of times I have been warned about all the horrors that are aphids – as if IContinueContinue reading “A silly clown”
The very odd-looking stag beetle…
I’ve been lucky enough to find a couple of lesser stag beetles (Dorcus parallelipipedus) in my garden lately. About two weeks ago I found a female, and two days ago my wife found a male, approximately two meters away from the place I found the female, on the same wall. I hope they managed toContinueContinue reading “The very odd-looking stag beetle…”
My son pays the price…
Those who know me well know that I care deeply about nature. I truly believe that we can (and should!) all play an important role in maintaining a bit of biodiversity close to home – in our own backyards. As you would expect from an ecological entomologist, my garden is a bit of a wildContinueContinue reading “My son pays the price…”
Freisinger Buckl Revisited
Earlier this year – on the second of April to be exact – I wrote a short post about the Easter Flowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris) in the Freisinger Buckl, a nature conservation area just South of the Isar river. Some two weeks later, I visited the area again. When I visited the area then, it wasContinueContinue reading “Freisinger Buckl Revisited”
Robin Heinen 