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, most of the ivy flowers are over and many of the large black berries are already well-developed.I’m rather depressed by the fact that yet another front garden is being concreted further up the road, so I peer out with the binoculars, from the fire

Late-summer nectarAs some insects are still out foraging in late-summer, it's a good idea to provide food for them with nectar-rich, late-flowering plants.Plants for beesIn late-summer, many plants have finished flowering, but bees, butterflies

. Its preference for wild flowers (ladies’ smock, garlic mustard and hedge mustard) rather than cultivated brassicas means that it's less persecuted, but is also more easily overlooked.A few minutes later a holly blue, Celastrina argiolus, appeared

of the lawn, then zoomed up and away. Several holly blues were skipping about over the ivy-covered fence at the weekend, all probably freshly emerged form chrysalides buried deep inside the tangled thatch.But what really caught my eye was the pas de deux dance

I don't really do birds. I'm usually too busy peering down at insects on flowers or running across leaves. Or I'm on hands and knees, bum in the air, turning stones over looking for ground beetles or grubbing at plant roots for weevils

blues, and speckled woods.The hoverflies have appeared in earnest, and bumbles, wasps and solitary bees are everywhere. There is an audible hum, usually only heard in June. They are all squabbling over the raspberry flowers. Pond-skaters are frolicking

wilderness.The evening air is alive with the sewing machine whirr of grasshoppers and bush-crickets, and the distant piping of field crickets sweeps in from far-off grassy knolls and rocky outcrops. And in the morning we are engulfed in wildlife

for wildlife: "move any debris to a corner of the garden out of sight, but where it can still benefit insects and mammals."My garden is just 4m² and less than a year old, but I’ve managed to attract a host of wild creatures, including blue tits and great tits

Feeding the birdsFeeding birds used to be a winter activity, from Christmas until the first spring flowers appeared. But birds need our help in the summer months just as much as during the winter.Because birds breed in the spring and early summer