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-ties, but only in discrete burgundy or navy blue, with extremely subtle spot patterns. I am rather nosy and have a tendency to stare. Oh, and I like insects. So when the cry is uttered from the end of the garden: “Weird red bug”, there is only one response, I

Find out how to identify the six species of bumblebee likely to visit gardens, by using our easy-to-follow guide.In recent years, bumblebeeshave suffered massive declines, leaving two of the UK's 27 native species extinct. Loss of habitat

out of the ground when dormant. They weigh less and require less maintenance than container-grown plants, so are therefore cheaper. Bargains are to be had at garden centres and nurseries between now and March, so if you’re planning on growing a hedge

if it ventures out again.There's something really special about seeing a lizard in the garden. It's almost as if they shouldn't be able to survive in cold, rainy Britain, and that they only belong in a more exotic world, somewhere hot and dry. But despite

While many plants have been late to flourish this year, I’m pleased to report that the blue and great tits that forage in my garden every spring are bang on schedule.Regular readers of this blog will know that every year my tiny courtyard garden

, but the discovery in 2011 that small tortoiseshell numbers had gone down by 68% in 10 years was pretty shocking. It has always been received wisdom that common generalist ‘garden’ species, like the small tort, were protected from some of the frightening declines

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

Although, yes, technically it is a spider, I’m almost positive that nobody could really be scared of the zebra spider, Salticus scenicus. It lacks all those sinister characteristics that can cause unease among some people — it isn’t black and hairy, it doesn’t have long legs, it ...

she hadn't dashed off into the depths. Today, though, when I nip out into the cold wilderness of my garden to have a little look around, I find there is a thin layer of ice on the pond.The rational part of me suspects that even though our pond is very

“I heard some growling from the shallow pond”, said the text message, from my mother. Frogs have been hiding under rocks and shrubbery in my mum's garden since she moved in nearly 17 years ago; but this is the first time there has been any 'growling