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ready for the council to come and collect. On some of the leaves were ladybird pupae, while spiders spun new webs in the wreckage. There may also have been chrysalises of the holly blue butterfly, whose caterpillars feed on ivy in summer. They

imported topsoil, then tried (and failed) to sow a lawn from seed.I watched the evolution of the plot from courtyard to garden as more and more creatures visited it - blue tits and great tits, a robin, blackbird, bumblebees, butterflies, moths, slugs

with the garden wildlife, or at least I liked to think so. I remember my dad waiting for the blue tits to leave the nest box so he could quickly lift me up and show me the baby birds inside. Once, aged two, I found a worm that had been pecked at by a bird, so I

– they gather to mate on the heap. Then hoverflies turn up to lay eggs on it. Once, a common blue butterfly spent the night on a particularly smelly mound of semi-rotted compost. What powerful antennae these creatures must have...

into the blue.So I was hopeful this summer, that the crackling I heard while negotiating an overgrown area of beach in Dorset, meant that I would finally lock eyes with a real, live, snake.It wasn’t to be. Whatever had been basking in the sun had retreated

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

critters in my garden - the blue and great tits tackle the aphids for me (ladybirds don't get a look in), while the frogs and blackbird do a good job of keeping vine weevil numbers down. The frogs also make sure the slugs have no chance of establishing a