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I've been building, not so much a garden pond, as a playground pond. And the first problem with playgrounds is that they are all-over tarmac. The obvious site for Ivydale Primary School's new pond was a sunny, but extremely bleak corner next

Just back from a long weekend in the village of Croscombe, in Somerset between Wells and Shepton Mallet, where The Landmark Trust has a fabulous 15th century building (Old Hall) to rent. Like so many holiday lets, the small garden could not really

of the building, a rapid series of hollow rattles, quickly answered by another tapping on the other side of the room as if in mocking echo, it's no wonder they became associated with the ticking away of life itself.But there is nothing so dark in their night

or so semi-bonsai topiary trees. Many are sculpted into bobble 'cloud' shapes or manicured to form miniature hedges and climbers around the intricate buildings. They really make the place a magical world and produce a series of spectacular vistas

the bathroom light on each night.The notion of bug boxes came back to me recently when I had a quick look through the 'my garden' section of the RSPB's Homes for Wildlife web pages. Under 'homes for insects' it suggests installing or building one. Well, I

and they then point it out to some of their friends. They gain a modicum of kudos from knowing a 'hawk' when they see one.Then it drifts away over the buildings and is gone. Well I never. I know it's a common bird, but I usually associate it with roadsides rather than

some previous owner has thoughtfully laid a path or hidden some building debris. If I get through the crushed brick, a further 10 cm down I meet solid London clay. With a frozen crust, I thought I'd have a task before me.The ground was not as hard as I

, it was a Leyland cypress, Cupressocyparis leylandii, a tree so almost totally sterile for wildlife that a plastic Christmas tree would probably house more biological diversity. Secondly, it was so close to a building that any previous advantage of shelter

spiders of hollow tree trunks, logs, root cavities, rock piles, caves and other small sheltered voids. Here they build a silken funnel that expands out into a tatty hammock, a bit like a threadbare handkerchief. The spider sits patiently in the funnel

a tight-pruned lime and a small cypress. Nevertheless, the city is splashed all over with natural colour as sills, walls, yards and railings are covered with pots and window boxes.Some buildings in the rickety 'old quarter' are so bedecked they look