Great-horned Owl perched in a farm hedgerow (David Bradbeer) Short-eared Owl hunting voles over a grassland (Hank Tseng). A farm lane in Delta, BC (Tyler Garnham). A Marsh Wren singing atop a hedgerow (David Bradbeer). A diversity of food grown in Delta, BC (Markus Merkens). Coopers Hawk perching on a fence (Markus Merkens). Barley growing in a Delta field (Tyler Garnham). Trumpeter Swans feed on a cover crop (David Bradbeer). Spring plowing on a Delta farm (Markus Merkens). Snow Geese taking off from a farm field (David Shackleton) Ladybird beetle on a barley plant (David Bradbeer)

Beneficial Arthropods

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Some beneficial arthropods found on farms in Delta are listed below; click the links to learn more.

• Bumblebee
• Lacewing
• Dragonfly
• Wood bug
• Solitary Bee
• Beetle
• Spider
• Fly

Arthropods are an extremely diverse phylum of animals, united by their hard exoskeleton, jointed limbs, and segmented bodies. Those that inhabit agricultural land include flies, spiders, beetles, wood bugs, butterflies, and bees, to name a few. There is no doubt that some can be a nuisance, such as stinging mosquitoes, or a serious agricultural pest, such as potato flea beetle or aphids. But arthropods are also responsible for a suite of activities that are beneficial to humans: pollinating crops, producing honey, eating or parasitizing insect pests, decomposing waste, and being food for a variety of birds, fish, and mammals. Farmland abounds with beneficial arthropods. Preliminary inventories show that pollinators, such as bumblebees, are present in Grassland Set-asides and Hedgerows, and the presence of clover over large areas of Grassland Set-asides likely benefits pollinators.

Photo: Spider on a clover plant in a Grassland Set-aside (David Bradbeer)