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pair of jays.I do occasionally catch a glimpse of these handsome birds, although magpies and crows are the usual corvids in this part of London. I'm not sure what they were up to, but they spent several minutes strutting about on the small area

and parasites.For the first few weeks they must forage alone, feeding the first batch of grubs through to maturity. If the queen dies, eaten by a bird, caught by mould, or trodden underfoot as she struggles to get airborne one cool March morning, the colony

It's cold, there's snow on the ground, and all is quiet in the garden. But I've just been outside feeding the wildlife. In my case that does not mean putting up nut-filled bird feeders or hanging fat balls, it means tipping the kitchen waste

Last year I wrote a blog about cuckoo spit, in which I documented the fauna that had appeared in my garden after I had transformed it from a paved courtyard. I celebrated the arrival of butterflies, birds, froghopper nymphs and moths, but was less

.Elsewhere gardeners fret over a superabundance of magpies, or sparrowhawks, choosing not to celebrate these wonderful birds’ beauty, poise or cunning, instead blaming them for decimating the local populations of blue tits and goldfinches. Yet further afield deer seem

easily access buildings•    they carry Weil’s disease, which is potentially fatal to humansI paid close attention to my garden and realised I had to act when I spotted Ratty mopping up split niger seed from the bird feeders in broad daylight

After writing an article on how and why to keep a garden wildlife diary for BBC Gardener's World Magazine, I've been invited to go electronic and turn it into a blog. My handwriting is atrocious so maybe this will be a good way of keeping the diary

it to chase off birds. He quotes an example from the Reverend H.L. Ewen's Rectory at Offord D'Arcy near Huntingdon, reported in the Journal of Horticulture in July 1883. The cat was tethered, by a short chain from its collar, the last link of the chain ran

returned.I'm no bird expert, but these harbingers of summer lift my heart when, as now, they scream their victorious celebration of return across the heavens. They made one low sweep together, a passing salute, then divided and wheeled off to the horizon. I

The snow was great fun, but it made wildlife watching in my garden a bit pointless. I am rather biased on this, because as far as I'm concerned, wildlife really means insects. OK, there are a few birds and the odd squirrel out there