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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

A few years ago I got a terrible swingeing letter from a gardener complaining at my lack of concern over the damage caused by Palomena prasina, the common green shieldbug. I love this clunky green beast, with its clockwork waddle and marzipan scent

, but with its obvious pale cream coloration it was fooling no one.We usually get two sawflies laying their eggs. Arge pagana is the pale speckled caterpillar that skeletonises whole branches, while Blennocampa phyllocolpa is the small green leaf

' garden though, but in the playground of Goodrich Primary School. Like most Victorian London primary schools Goodrich suffers from an over-abundance of tarmac and virtually no 'green' open space. There are a few concrete and wooden tubs of flowers

It's always nice to be shown a 'find' by an excited child, so when I was told of a bright green iridescent beetle found in a neighbour's garden I could hardly wait to see what it was.As it turns out, it was Oedemera nobilis. It's very common

's a stroll above the Avenue Daumesnil. I say above, because the park is the Promenade Plantée, a disused railway viaduct converted to an elevated walkway awash with trees and bushes, and planters full of flowers.It's very busy with promenaders

amongst the bramble bushes, and the occasional clouded yellow belts up the path at top bluster speed.The air is thick with dumbledors buzzing lazily over the flowers; these shiny bluish, greenish or sometimes even pinkish Geotrupes are shinier than

it has run a bit wild and it's a dumping ground for flower pots, buckets, pieces of wood that I once thought could be potentially useful for some reason, mildly interesting boulders found on family walks and all not very well hidden by a brightly coloured

and Their Haunts by the Rev. C.A. Johns, was published in 1862 by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, on the back of his success with Flowers of the Field (1851). Both books were in print for over a century, and it's easy to see why.To start, Johns

-leaved Virginia-type creeper (not sure what kind) covering the large west-facing wall is rattling as if sand grains were raining down it. Yesterday it was abuzz, positively humming, with bees and wasps visiting the flowers, all of which are hidden under the leaves