Bigging up the little guys

Insects come in a variety of sizes and colours, but sadly, I can't say that I ever really pay that much attention to the little guys of our ecosystem, although I often see the evidence that they have been around - the intricate patterns left in leaves and bits of foliage missing as they happily chomp through my garden.

So, armed with a camera and my Collins complete British insects book, I donned my flip-flops and went on an insect hunt in my garden, determined to look for these very important little creatures.

I already do quite a lot in my garden for wildlife, and within the first few minutes of being outside had already seen plenty of hoverflies, bees, and a small white butterfly, but I wanted to look a bit deeper and find those insects that wouldn't normally get noticed. Remembering how much Katie and I had found on just one tree I decided to take things slowly.

So slowly, in fact, that I also only got round to examining one tree, as within the first few minutes of looking I'd found two insects that I immediatley wanted to find out more information about: a common froghopper and a hazel weevil.

Froghopper - what a weird name, and quite frankly what an ever weirder looking minibeast. It took me a few minutes to find him in the book, but it turns out that we'd met before! As a nymph, these insects create frothy masses to live in and are commonly referred to as cuckoo-spit.

At only about 6mm long, this little guy was feeding on plant sap, and as I watched, every so often a squirt of yellowish fluid would shoot, regularly and often, out of its backside and land a few centimetres away on the leaf. I can only assume that it was expelling surplus plant sap.

I'm not sure how long I spent watching the froghopper, but as soon as I turned my head to see what else I could find I was immediately confronted by a hazel weevil. Moving closer to the leaf for a better view, the weevil started wondering around the leaf, before appearing to just 'let go' and roll off on to the ground. My book wasn't very helpful in explaining this behaviour, but I guess that I was seen as a threat and when I didn't move away the only thing left for the weevil to do was get off the leaf as quickly as possible.

I had great fun exploring my garden, and found the bug behaviour just as fascintating to watch as any of the birds that regularly visit my garden. I will definitely be doing this again; I might wear boots next time, though!

What can you do?

• Not confident about your minibeast identification skills? We run loads of events across the UK where you can learn about the wonders of the insect world.
• Get great tips for making your garden more wildlife-friendly - sign up for Homes for Wildlife.
• Been amazed by the insects in your garden? Write a comment (you will need to register first - this is free - then log in). You can also be updated when something new is posted to this blog.