Your observations may assist in monitoring the spread of the alien harlequin ladybird, imported by commercial greenhouse owners to control aphids. Some harlequin ladybirds escaped and multiplied and colonised mainland Europe. They reached southeast England in 2004. Harlequin ladybirds eat aphids - but they also eat our native ladybirds. In cold weather, they congregate in houses, and they bite and spit a bright yellow liquid, which stains clothes and soft furnishings. Log into the Harlequin Survey where there is guidance on how to recognize these aliens and send in records of sightings.

Pollinators such as hoverflies and bumblebees are of the utmost importance for food crops such as beans, courgettes and fruit. The bad news is that bumblebees have declined in recent years because of a reduction in plant diversity. They are especially vulnerable in early Spring, when queen bumblebees emerge from winter dormancy. They need nutritious nectar and pollen to sustain them in their search for a nest site, which they prepare for egg laying. By planting nectar-rich plants in your garden, patio or window box, you help the bees to survive.

Bumblebees have specialised mouthparts, which form a long tongue that laps up nectar from flowers. The length of the tongue varies in different species so choose a variety of plants. Give the queens another helping hand in spring by providing bumblebee nest boxes in your garden, available from a number of suppliers. It is also possible to make simple bumblebee nesting boxes. Check out the instructions for making a bumblebee or mason bee box.

Once you have made your bumblebee box, place it in a flower bed, or under a hedge so that the bees have easy access to flowers.

There are about 26 different bumblebee species in the UK; most are rare. If you are interested in identifying bumblebees there are good guides available and a simple one is available from Rothamstead experimental station. This guide helps you to identify the six most common species in the UK.

Very few of our butterflies are pests and so it is worthwhile preparing a garden that attracts these beautiful insects. Your nettle patch may feed caterpillars of red admiral, peacock, comma and small tortoiseshell butterflies. Orange tip butterflies can be seen in gardens, and their caterpillars feed on ladies smock, which is not difficult to establish in a damp lawn. You may spot common blues; their caterpillars eat clovers and related plants. Holly blues may be seen if there are holly trees and ivy in your area.

In contrast to their leaf-eating caterpillars, adult butterflies feed on nectar, by sucking it from flowers using a long tube or proboscis, which when not in use is curled up under the head. Take the time to watch butterfly behaviour and have a butterfly guide handy for identifying them. You can take your interest in butterflies further with the butterfly monitoring scheme, which collects data on sightings of butterflies and so obtains information on increases and declines in numbers of the 71 species of butterfly in the British Isles.

Insect diversity is so huge that we have only covered a minute proportion of the insects found in gardens. If you search for insects in your garden, or use some means of collecting them such as passing sweep nets through shrubs or long grass, and using a moth trap, you will find many more species. Sweep nets and moth traps can be made from items found in the home.

To identify the insects you find, use guides. For example, the Field Studies Council publishes a collection of reasonably priced guides of particular types of insects. Keep a note of the species that you find in your garden and you can build up a year-by-year record. Most important of all, enjoy the diversity of insect life in your garden!

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