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these wonderful creatures in my back garden. South London is now about the only place in the UK where you can regularly see these awesome monsters. My supposition is that when the housing boom spread across the area 100 to 150 years ago, it was one of the most

It's always nice to be shown a 'find' by an excited child, so when I was told of a bright green iridescent beetle found in a neighbour's garden I could hardly wait to see what it was.As it turns out, it was Oedemera nobilis. It's very common

The plot is abuzz with wildlife, including ladybirds, lacewings, bumblebees and ground beetles. They're all marvellous for my crops; bees increase my yields by pollinating flowers, and ladybirds and lacewings eat a lot of aphids. As well

them is immense; they're such magical creatures.Known in Latin as Lampyris noctiluca (noctiluca meaning 'night light'), this charming glowing critter is not actually a worm, but a female beetle. She produces the yellowy-green light from the end of her

of flies emerges.Fruit flies (at least two Drosophila species) feature strongly, which is no surprise given the amount of apple cores, banana skins, melon shells and potato peelings we chuck in each week. Although the adult flies are only 2.5mm long

ladybird. The rest are the usual suspects: vine weevils (No.3 on the list), lily beetles (No.9) etc.No matter how depressed we may get with cushion scale (No.4=) or the depredations of berberis sawfly (No.7) there is always a silver lining. There are worse

Up to town today, and while waiting for the number 12 bendy bus, 12-year-old and I examine the trunk of a lime tree overhanging the stop. There's a whole ecosystem in just a few square feet of bark.Most prominent are the white waxy remains of horse

.To top it all there's very little raspberry beetle damage - those horrible little browny maggoty things that sneak out of the top end of the fruit. I can't seem to pick the fruit fast enough and the entire family is going around with bright red stains

In two large pots I am growing big white lilies (lets not talk about the dapper scarlet lily beetles and their repulsively slimy offspring at the moment - too depressing) and a luscious deep red dahlia called Arabian Night. Around the feet

Parts of my garden have resembled something of a battleground this year. Why is it that all my favourite plants and crops have their very own pest to contend with? Grow lilies and you'll be hard pressed not to find lily beetle munching them. My