THE lovely warm weather of May and early June has been a real bonus for one particular form of insect.

The greenfly and other aphids are a gardener's nightmare, as these tiny little insects are armed with plant-piercing mouth parts which suck the vital life-giving juices out of the plant, giving them the common name of plant lice.

To the gardeners' horror, the fine weather has given the aphids an extra boost and out on the nature reserves within the Wyre Forest district, many of the trees with their newly-opened leaves are covered in vast clouds of these tiny creatures.

Despite their well-deserved reputation, aphids have an interesting and unusual lifestyle, even for an insect.

Early in the spring, the aphids will hatch from eggs concealed in cracks and crevices and newly emerged aphids will begin to feed on the nearest hapless plant.

Unusually, all these newly emerged creatures will be female, and without wings.

They will then, without the need for mating, lay a brood of eggs and when these hatch, once again all will be females.

But some will have wings, and these will leave the host plant in search of further plant victims on which they will rear a further aphid brood.

Throughout the year the aphids will produce up to eight broods. All will be composed of females, until the autumn, when the last clutch of eggs will hatch as a mixture of both males and females, who will then mate, lay their eggs in a hidden location, then die.

With such an unusual and prolific method of reproduction, you may think that the aphids are set to take over the world. However, several other insect species have joined forces with the gardeners to battle against this aphid menace.

Probably the most famous of these is the ladybird, who, both as an adult and a larva, is a profuse aphid killer.

Another insect which has quite an impact on the aphid population, and a much more unlikely candidate when looking at the adult form, is the delicate and beautiful lacewing, which as a larva commonly feasts heavily on aphids.

But just as you think you have got a chance with powerful allies such as these, there is in fact another insect which has joined forces with the aphids.

This is the ant. Ants commonly farm aphids in much the same way we farm cows, driving off predators and generally protecting their aphids in exchange for the honey dew food the aphids excrete.