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I saw a lot of lizards on my trip around South America. There were brown lizards, green lizards, bright blue ones, and some that blend in perfectly with the red and black volcanic environment they inhabit.I was lucky enough to see a pair of lizards mating in Colombia. The male li...

It’s been fascinating to follow the tweets of butterfly enthusiasts as they marked the arrival of warm weather during the last fortnight, by discoveries of green hairstreaks, Duke of Burgundy Fritillaries and even some large tortoiseshells in the Isle of Wight. I can’t match any ...

While many plants have been late to flourish this year, I’m pleased to report that the blue and great tits that forage in my garden every spring are bang on schedule.Regular readers of this blog will know that every year my tiny courtyard garden is host to a pair of blue tits and...

Last week, Butterfly Conservation published a report called The State of Britain's Larger Moths 2013. It makes a depressing read, demonstrating a marked decline in the number of our larger moths over the last 40 years. The survey, conducted in association with Rothamstead Researc...

, and occasionally a frog will be sitting in it. As far as I know they have never bred there. But somewhere else, near at hand, hidden from my view, there must be other small garden ponds, more frog- and toad-friendly ponds, where successful spawning does take place

Sapphire Class at Ivydale Primary School are now experts on bumblebees. We did a workshop on climate change so I took in a tray of bumblebee specimens and we talked about the potential consequences for these well-known and much-loved insects.First we looked at a few basic aspects...

“I heard some growling from the shallow pond”, said the text message, from my mother. Frogs have been hiding under rocks and shrubbery in my mum's garden since she moved in nearly 17 years ago; but this is the first time there has been any 'growling'.I dug my mum her first pond 1...

sitting in their centrally heated kitchens, but since it is part of the natural order, wildlife ought to be expected to cope with it each year. However, it is the false start, which is perhaps the most dangerous weather phenomenon. The biological clock

Although, yes, technically it is a spider, I’m almost positive that nobody could really be scared of the zebra spider, Salticus scenicus. It lacks all those sinister characteristics that can cause unease among some people — it isn’t black and hairy, it doesn’t have long legs, it ...

, with more and more show gardens embracing wildlife-friendly trends such as green roofs and wildflower meadows. But there are still those that focus on the majestic and the exotic, on straight lines and immaculate water features. Of course, many are designed