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What's the point of having a compost heap unless it's to breed fruit flies. That's the way my entomologist's mind works. During the summer great clouds of them billowed up every time I dumped the kitchen waste. They got in my eyes and hair

of caterpillar droppings in the chewed-out core.I can imagine this might be very tiresome for the apple farmer, and not very pleasant on the tongue when biting into a nice juicy fruit. It bothers me less, because our apples are not actually very tasty. I

in there.The garden spiders, Aranaeus diadematus, are starting to get very large and obvious, especially those round the compost bins. We compost everything we can, including kitchen waste, so clouds of fruit flies emerge every time I lift off the lid. Even

150 years. It feeds on the fruits, using its stylet mouthparts to suck out the juices, in autumn moving to the berries of yew, which also grows profusely on the chalk downs.However, during the 1990s Gonocerus was found, first, at Bookham Common

small critters come to warm themselves. And what's this? The compost bin has started to leak fruit flies; the perfect snack for a hungry spider.

see several places where I imagined gangly arms had been thrust through to pilfer our fruit. Humph. Oh well. I re-pegged the nets, did a bit of disgruntled tidying and left.The next week we were back. A glorious day, birds singing, clouds puffing

the upper regions of the compost food-chain, feeding on the clouds of fruit flies, moth flies and other small insects that devour the endless cascade of banana skins and potato peels. I'm not sure what species they are, but I'll keep an eye out to see what

freely along a metal wire strung out in a line through the middle of the strawberry beds. The feline was then able to patrol up and down chasing thrushes and blackbirds off of the fruit. If the weather was inclement, a short length of drainpipe at each

in Britain.Unlike the sawfly, which feeds on the leaves, the grubs of the picture-wing fly develop in the small berberry fruits. Having seen bushes weighed down with berries in autumn, I've often wondered why the fly has not been more widely seen. A very

; there was something strange about the perspective because it made the bird look much bigger than their normally neat and petite form.Today I harvested the remaining fruit. I don't know what variety the tree is, but the apples are not very tasty except in crumble