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that breeds in the smelly stagnant water you find in flooded rot holes in large trees where branches have fallen off. It also likes nutrient-rich ditches, (especially near farm manure heaps), stinking sulphurous woodland pools full of rotting fallen leaves

and fed them on cubes of luncheon meat or the occasional tiny slug. Eventually they would get tipped into the garden ponds, two ceramic butler sinks sunk into the soil, and they lived there for several years.As far as I know the newts still breed in those

After last week's excitement about the ladybird party on the BBC allotment, I was delighted to learn that the UK Ladybird Survey had a stand at this year’s Gardeners' World Live.There’s always a few wildlife charities at the show and each year I

at the edge of the water in total darkness with bats swirling around me.Like so much of our wildlife, bats are having a hard time. This is mostly due to the widespread use of pesticides in agriculture. British bats feed exclusively on insects, so spraying

startled in Dorset was probably a slow worm or grass snake (pictured above). These benign species often turn up in gardens, mostly in the south of England, and very rarely in the north. They bask in rockeries, feed in ponds and breed in compost heaps

Within days, two scientific reports on Britain’s wildlife have made national news headlines because of their dire prognoses. The State of the UK’s Birds 2012, produced by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, British Trust for Ornithology

entrance hole can make a fantastic substitute for many species. And birds won’t just breed in it – a well-placed box can also provide winter refuge for small species such as wrens. More than 60 species are known to use nest boxes, including blue tits, great

'.I dug my mum her first pond 10 years ago, and although several frogs are often found sheltering in the water, and it's home to a gregarious family of smooth newts, we've never seen evidence of any breeding.The pond (now known as the 'deep pond') is too

slightly irritated when I read one of the kids' story books, in which someone discovers a frog or toad in the garden and their subsequent quest to find a suitable aquatic home for its release. Amphibians only go into water to breed in spring. Most

.At the height of breeding season the blue tit returned, though was scared off by a pair of great tits, which visited several times a day. They snacked on peanuts and gathered caterpillars and aphids for their babies. Sadly, they didn't return with their fluffy