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If I had to describe myself, I'd say I was a nature lover. I'm forever taking the side of birds, insects, amphibians and mammals, and can argue the case for just about any creature, even pests. But at this time of year there is one exception

refreezes, another layer can settle on top.I've also tried to ensure that the wild birds have a plentiful supply of food and unfrozen water.My garlic is a worry, especially those cloves that were planted only a few weeks before the snow arrived. Some have

.Now, with the increasingly warm weather, the aphids are happily multiplying on just about any fresh, soft growth that they can find. In a bid to thwart them I’ve tried the trick of hanging bird feeders on shrubs. The blue tits form an orderly queue for the feeder (they

, the prickly pear, which are often dotted with fruits.The bird of paradise flower, Strelitzia, always seems at its most vigorous and vibrant in Madeira, too. I always find hard to avoid the temptation of buying a packet of the seed while I’m there. There

fewer ladybirds in my garden this year. I expect they’re missing the aphids, too.Perhaps the birds are obligingly collecting the aphids up for their young, or they've all been parasitised by some wonder wasp. Who knows, maybe it was the hard winter after

It's been a great year for stone fruit crops, apparently, with commercial cherry growers reporting bumper harvests. We have a couple of cherry trees here, but I've yet to taste a ripe fruit from them – the birds always get there first. I know we

windfalls to collect, so we can make some more juice.I’ll save a few apples for the birds - I’m happy to feed them, but I begrudge the wasps, which hollowed out far too many fruits in this year’s crop.

of the nearby roof - grace and elegance is something an owl obviously takes many weeks to learn! A fantastic sight and I feel really honoured that they have decided to breed here. Smaller birds have been here in abundance too - the house sparrow numbers seem