Best garden creature

Published on Friday 19 June 2009 21:51

ON FRIDAY, the National Museum of Scotland's Garden Detectives – an exhibition encouraging families to explore the natural world in their gardens – opens. A museum poll found our favourite garden creatures.

THE ROBIN: Both males and females look the same and have a diet of seeds, worms, insects and fruit. It's estimated there are 5.9 million breeding pairs in the UK. Apart from late summer when they moult and are retiring, robins sing all year.

BUTTERFLIES: Joint second in our poll, and among the most beautiful of garden creatures. Most adults live only a week or two, although some may live up to 18 months. There are more than 50 species in the UK, but two consecutive wet summers have hit them hard. They feed on nectar from flowers and are fond of plants like buddleia and lavender.

HEDGEHOG: This joint second favourite is known as the gardener's friend, as it eats slugs, beetles and caterpillars. Hedgehogs roll into a ball, using spines to defend themselves. They are nocturnal and hibernate from November to mid-March.

BUMBLE BEES: Brightly coloured and hairy, they can fly at over 20km per hour and there are 17 kinds in Scotland. They eat pollen and drink nectar from flowers and can fly carrying over half their own weight in pollen. Their role in pollination is vital for flowers and crops like raspberries and runner beans.

LADYBIRDS: Also helpful to gardeners. They pollinate flowers and eat pests such as greenfly and blackfly. If attacked, they lie on their backs and exude a yellow toxic substance.

&#149 Garden Detectives runs from 26 June-27 September at the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. www.nms.ac.uk