[Protein]

Has anyone notice the abundance of bees, butterflies, wasps, daddy-long-legs and general insect activity etc this year?

Perhaps the previous two season have been way too wet for them?

Also noticed the blossoms on Prunus and Malus trees have stayed in flower for longer than usual.

me

[Sive]

I can't really say I have, but then our garden is only very young, and maybe there is too little to attract insects here as yet.
However, I think the gorse seems brighter than normal......stretches of the N11 between Wexford and Dublin are just ablaze with the golden yellow of gorse. I'm wondering has it anything to do with the very cold winter......

[mcgrueser]

The gorse is pretty spectacular this year alright, though i'm not sure if it is always like this and i've only noticed this year. Around Wicklow anyway is quite something with the amount of it....and dandelions. Some roads seem to be a sea of yellow with all the flowering.
I have my gorse flower wine bottled now and i tried some dandelion pancakes yesterday morning.

I havent necesarily noticed the insects merntioned above but the midges seem to be rampant this year for whatever reason!...again, maybe its just me...

[verge]

Loads of bees around this year. So much for them dying out.

[SorchaBC]

I definately have more insect life, or maybe it's just more noticable now that we're actually working in the garden.

So far this year there's been wasps, bees, ladybirds, ants, flies of all sorts and we also have several types of birds nesting, rabbits, hedgehogs and a family of bats!

It's driving the cats mental, they sit in the windows and watch the birds all day. They aren't hunters though thankfully so they leave them alone when they're outside. The kitten does like to pounce insects when he can though.

[PeterEnglish]

Definitely, yes.

Not just more bees, but I've also had an elephant hawkmoth in my garden for the first time. Beautiful creature, all greens and pinks. Plus several "first-time" caterpillars - drinker moth, yellow-tail, and a bushful of copper underwings. Not to mention all the pipistrelle bats around here at the moment, and the frogs in the ditch are thriving too.

On the other hand, I haven't seen a single hedgehog yet, and the long-tailed tits, coal tits and goldcrests have vanished. Nature's "swings and roundabouts" can seem very arbitrary sometimes!

[Sive]

I've definitely noticed more moths flying into the car headlights at night and landing on the windows of the house. It's good to see them back again.