The Royal Horticultural Society talks about the ‘food web’

An example of a simple food chain is nasturtium-blackfly-ladybird-swallow, where each link in the chain eats the one before it. But of course, there are many other things which for instance eat blackfly, which takes us into other food chains, hence the concept of a bigger ‘food web’.

Sometimes species are grouped together by how they feed into what are called ‘functional groups’.

There are four primary groups; herbivores (these eat living plants), predators (these eat other creatures), detritivores (these feed on decomposing material, of plant or animal origin; animals that eat fungi and algal growths are often included in this group) and omnivores (these feed on both plants and animals).

In a garden with a healthy ecosystem, all of these groups will be well represented.

To enjoy sharing our gardens with wildlife further up the food chain, such as hedgehogs and robins, it’s important to remember that they need a plentiful supply of beetles, caterpillars, earthworms, etc.

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