A Garden of Incredible Insects with Erica McAlister

About

Join Erica McAlister, Principal Curator at the Natural History Museum and one of the UK's most passionate, bug-crazy experts, on an insect tour of our rewilded Walled Garden. Learn about the myriad pollinators beyond the well-known honeybees, bumblebees and butterflies; the heroic insect predators that control aphids and other pests; and Erica's speciality, flies – perhaps our most maligned and underestimated insects that play a vital role in the garden as decomposers, soil fertilisers, predators, fungivores and pollinators. You'll never look at flies the same way again!

You'll gain insights into the extraordinary life cycles of insects, including the often-overlooked larval, feeding stage – for many species the longest and most important part of their lives. More than 80% of insect species undergo complete metamorphosis. Understanding these transformations can help us design our gardens to provide different habitats – all the nooks and crannies, the dank, wet margins, broken pots and piles of wood – that can help insects thrive.