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pupating and emerging as an adult. They are usually species of fly or moth, but some are types of beetle or sawfly. There are flies that tunnel through spinach and beetroot, moths that fashion phallic-shaped 'cases' from leaves of apples, beetles that leave

of the very common brown 'shieldbug' Coreus marginatus. Twenty years ago, Gonocerus was given Red Data Book status 1, 'endangered', because ever since its discovery in the late 19th century it was known only from a few box trees on the precipitous chalk slopes

of apple trees, a greenhouse (that sadly got stolen), a wonderful bright yellow tub trug, an orange tree, and an incredibly sharp gardening knife. But I've also received some horrors, one of which was so bad I took it back to the shop and exchanged

were decorated with sparkly cobwebs. On the way back we stopped off to pick up some windfalls from beneath the apple trees, avoiding those already chewed by the fox and muntjac.At lunchtime I sat outside and ate a piece of toast (with home-made apricot

down. There are three of four long-tailed tits in next-door-but-one's pear tree. A female blackbird is scavenging for bits of left-over windfall under our apple tree. The squirrels seem thoroughly fed up with it all, and chatter angrily at each other

visiting my plot. I put seed out for them which the pigeons couldn't reach (they had their own), and fashioned a snow-proof feeding station using an umbrella, which sheltered the birds and seed from snow. I left chopped apples in the borders. Everything

:FOR THE FILLING:10-15 plums, halved1 tablespoon of water1 tablespoon of sugarCinnamonMixed spice1 thumb-length of fresh gingerPreheat oven to 180°C . Cook the plums over a low heat with the water and sugar. When almost cooked, turn off the heat, allow to cool a

as relentlessly. It is best just to watch: in the morning the spiders webs are glimmering with dew, the sun sneaks over the horizon at a much more civilised hour, the light is different, the sun (when it is there) is just the right temperature, the trees

counted about 15, the same number we get every year, give or take. They're late this year; in 2007 it was May 2nd.Then it was newts, three of them paddling about at the bottom of the pond. They were easily visible against the new butyl liner I had to put

have dropped low enough to kill off some overwintering pests such as the woolly aphid I discovered on my apple trees last summer. The problem is that frost isn't that discerning, and unless beneficial insects like ladybirds are even hardier, or have