What can you discover?

Your Pollinator Patch is always changing. Flowers grow and bloom, insects come and go, and even a quiet-looking hotel can have activity hidden inside.

Take a little time to look closely. You don't need to know the name of everything you find — noticing where a visitor lands, what it's feeding on or how it behaves is all part of exploring your patch.

Who might you spot?

  • Bees

    Look for bees feeding on your flowers or investigating the nesting tubes in your hotel. Not every bee will look the same — notice differences in size, colour, markings and behaviour, and watch whether they're collecting pollen or searching for a nesting space.

  • Butterflies & Moths

    Butterflies and moths may visit flowers to feed on nectar. Watch how they move between blooms and look closely at their colours, patterns and wing shapes. Different visitors may appear as the flowers and seasons change.

  • Hoverflies

    Hoverflies can look surprisingly like bees or wasps, but they're flies. Look for their characteristic hovering flight and watch them dart between flowers as they feed. Their bee-like colours can make identifying them an interesting challenge.

  • Other Little Visitors

    Your patch may attract much more than bees, butterflies and hoverflies. Look out for beetles, ladybirds, spiders and other small creatures among the flowers, leaves and stems — each one is another part of the little ecosystem around your patch.

Become a Patch Explorer

  • Go on a Wildlife Hunt

    Take a closer look around your patch and see how many different signs of wildlife you can find. Look on flowers, leaves, stems and around your hotel - not just for insects, but for clues that they've been there.

    Start exploring 

  • Keep a Patch Diary

    Record what's growing, flowering and visiting as your patch changes. Add the date and weather, note what you spotted and compare your observations as the weeks and seasons pass.

    Start your diary 

  • Spot & Identify

    Spotted something interesting? Use our spotter resources to look more closely at its shape, colours and features and see if you can work out what you've found.

    Start spotting 

Look, learn and leave things as you found them

The best way to explore your patch is to watch without disturbing the wildlife you find. Give feeding insects space, avoid handling visitors and leave occupied or sealed nesting tubes alone.

Look closely, take photographs, make notes and see what changes over time. If you move something gently to take a look underneath, put it back where you found it so the little creatures using that space can carry on undisturbed.

The more often you look, the more you'll begin to notice.