Because its hard to predict the wacky weather here in the UK, and not knowing if the next time we cut the lawn might precede a period of hot weather, we have taken to cutting the lawn on its highest cut to preserve the grass during summer months as it traps more moisture at soil level thus preventing it from going brown and dying and we only cut it when there is rain forcast. So the grass can grow to be several inches in height like a meadow, obviously more flowers/weeds pop up, but its easier pulling the weeds out and leaving the flowers that pop up for the insects.
So fast forward to this year, and besides seeing an increase in insects, butterflies, and a wider range of birds, year on year I saw 6 goldfinches descend on the bird bath yesterday, never seen that before, and we are also seeing loads and loads of grasshoppers.
Havent seen this many grasshoppers since the 70's and 80's which is nice to see. I could probably walk out and catch 5-10 from the lawn in 10minutes. I'd be lucky if I saw one grasshopper a day in previous years.
We have been trying to make the garden more insect friendly since Covid and I think its beginning to pay off.
Ozone mentioned in this study will always be found in built up areas, the human health impact is it blocks UVB to a degree which means humans get less UVB light and thus less vit D3. So even though circa 100% of the UVB will reflect off man made surfaces, the ozone stops alot of it from reaching the ground meaning you get less vit D3 in built up areas.
In the countryside the vegetation absorbs alot more UVB (circa 25%), so gardeners in the countryside have higher D3 levels simply from the absence of ozone.
And Bee's like other insects use UV light reflecting off flowers to choose the different flowers to bumble between in their search for pollen. Reduce the ozone to get more UV light to the ground and the bees can see the flowers better.
It would be interesting to see of more bees got to flowers where some UV lighting is placed over the flowers.
So fast forward to this year, and besides seeing an increase in insects, butterflies, and a wider range of birds, year on year I saw 6 goldfinches descend on the bird bath yesterday, never seen that before, and we are also seeing loads and loads of grasshoppers.
Havent seen this many grasshoppers since the 70's and 80's which is nice to see. I could probably walk out and catch 5-10 from the lawn in 10minutes. I'd be lucky if I saw one grasshopper a day in previous years.
We have been trying to make the garden more insect friendly since Covid and I think its beginning to pay off.
Ozone mentioned in this study will always be found in built up areas, the human health impact is it blocks UVB to a degree which means humans get less UVB light and thus less vit D3. So even though circa 100% of the UVB will reflect off man made surfaces, the ozone stops alot of it from reaching the ground meaning you get less vit D3 in built up areas.
In the countryside the vegetation absorbs alot more UVB (circa 25%), so gardeners in the countryside have higher D3 levels simply from the absence of ozone.
And Bee's like other insects use UV light reflecting off flowers to choose the different flowers to bumble between in their search for pollen. Reduce the ozone to get more UV light to the ground and the bees can see the flowers better.
It would be interesting to see of more bees got to flowers where some UV lighting is placed over the flowers.