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to no good, but rarely ever seen. Now you can catch them, and the gruesome evidence brings a big smile to my face. (It can't only be me, surely?)I invested in a Plum Moth Trap and Apple Codling Moth Trap in May. These comprise of a green plastic shelter (bird

combine beautifully when poached with pears (with ice cream and a dollop of chocolate) - a way of using up our vast stock of unripe, bullet hard pears. Anybody else have problems with pears that refuse to ripen (the ones that are not eaten by birds

is immensely proud. Because there are so many rodents available on the farm, I am pleased to say that the cats rarely attack or catch the birds. Which is a very good thing as we have two blackbirds, Denise and Deirdre, that have taken up residence in the stock

than that.By the way, we had a visitor to the garden this week: a stoat. It climbed over the roof of the barn and disappeared into a convenient hole in the bargeboard (presumably on a search for birds' nests). The only other time I have seen one

the young leaves were added to peoples' sandwiches; it supports at least 149 species of insect and the berries feed more than 23 species of bird; hawthorn is pollinated by dung flies and midges attracted to the mildly unpleasant smell and the fact

back bundles of branches that I then stick in the ground around the borders. Initially, the place appears to be colonised by enormous nesting birds, but this framework will soon be covered with plants which will, like matrons in whalebone girdles

the densely populated 12eme arrondissement?Something occurs to me. Are the houses of south-east London no longer attractive for nesting in the eaves? What with roof insulation and loft conversions, perhaps the birds are being edged out? Ironically, the five

the missile. If it's a female it will ignore the stone and continue sunning itself. So confrontational are the males that they will also flap up to investigate other butterflies, bumblebees, birds and even passing aeroplanes.

off. The densest is our tree of Oven's wattle, Acacia pravissima, now a huge impenetrable cushion of yellow flowers dominating the end of the garden. Part of the HFW scheme is a series of garden surveys and I've had more luck with April birds than

remove healthy trees" was their initial answer.The environmental and wildlife grounds for getting rid of it were overwhelming. The tree was not large enough to be of much benefit to nesting birds. Leyland cypress is a foodplant for next-to no