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, three came along at once.A green-veined white, Pieris napi, was the first to appear, fluttering down to examine the mock orange flowers. This is probably the most widespread of the ‘cabbage’ whites, since it occurs commonly throughout the British Isles

It’s life and death out there on the ivy at the moment. The far corner of our garden is a sheltered sun-trap, and the fence is now smothered in ivy flowers. The air is thick with the heavy scent of the blossoms, and the lazy buzzing of insects

On holiday in northern France last week I was struck by the similarities in the landscape, but very subtle differences in the wildlife.With its gently rolling hills, hedges, grazing meadows, small woods, narrow lanes and winding streams, I could

In the Horniman Museum Gardens earlier today and a brightly coloured butterfly caught my eye as it visited a low dandelion flower. I skulk up to it and discover a painted lady, Cynthia cardui. This is only the third I have seen this year.A native

Following my find of a dead swift in the flower bed, there have been a lot of blog comments on cats, and how welcome or unwelcome they are in the garden. So I just had to share the following, because I found it so comical. It is taken from a

had a ragged ball of spawn, but it quickly disintegrated into an opaque white mess, and no tadpoles ever resulted. We often see frogs of various sizes, under flower pots, behind the compost bins, or hopping about in the more unkempt bits of the flower

salvage for the crumble.We don't have the most regimented of gardens, in fact it's a bit wild sometimes. But wildlife is, by definition, wild. As I said in the magazine, it has no time for straight lines, clipped edges, smart displays, or level lawns. We

him. Not surprisingly, there were lots of tears.I'm not sure if it was one from the nest, or elsewhere. We seem to have bumblebee heaven just outside the back door - the chive flowers are weighed down with them. Not only do we have this deliciously

it does not flit from flower to flower like a butterfly. But it flies readily if disturbed from its not-very-camouflaged position on a leaf, wall, fence, window, car, no-parking sign, bollard or brightly coloured plastic bin full of winter salt/grit mix

.I'm surprised, though, to see little sign of wildlife at any of these flower pots - just a lone honeybee and a couple of pigeons.It is only down by the river's edge that I can see what I might call real wildlife in a garden. A tiny concrete balcony