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end of the wire was the beast's shelter, and the odd bowl of food kept it going if it could not actually catch its prey. According to Abbey, the strawberry-growing Reverend had a whole team of cats and kittens so employed.This is all very amusing, but

Living in a city, one of the country things I really miss is the easy search for dung beetles. Growing up at the foot of the South Downs I could quite happily spend an entire day out dunging. Cows, sheep and horses grazed the rolling hills around my

loading a huge net sausage of straw into the water. I thought this treatment, intended to prevent algae growing on the surface of the water, was rather fanciful folklore. But I recently came across it on a water-management website, together with suggested

the weather here in London.The garden is still looking remarkably green, even after we cut down the now wilting and blackened dahlias. In fact we already have a perfect bird-feeder growing out there - the apple tree. And the bird that best takes advantage

savoury plant in the beds, it also grows very well in cracks in the old concrete path.Later, while I'm admiring the constant nectaring business, I see there are several species. The red-tailed, Bombus lapidarius, is there in numbers, as too is the white

was the best sun in ages and these lovely bugs have started to appear, just as they always do at this time of year, sunning themselves on the south-facing fence, and the leaves of the ivy growing all over it. They won't stay that colour for long, and I expect

Due to the wet weather of the past week, I haven't been out in the garden much. The snails, however, have been very active; I can barely walk to the front gate without the familiar sound of snails crunching underfoot. Most of the plants we grow

nothing else will grow. I love the way plane bark peels, so can’t resist picking off a few scabby bits to see if anything is sheltering underneath. Sure enough, under the very first bit is a small, but prettily marked red and brown bug.A year ago I thought

with anyone growing plants for their roots or tubers. Most species, though, are dead wood feeders, and they include lots of very rare species, which only occur in old woodlands, ancient hedgerows and other important wildlife habitats. Their larvae feed

the multiplied stem formed such an alien-looking ribbon, and yet was growing perfectly healthily and strong. The memory stuck with me, because it was about this time that I first read J.G. Ballard’s dystopian science fiction novel The Crystal World, where