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A few months ago I wrote about vine weevil, which I had inadvertently brought into my garden in a pot of hellebores. I was worried they'd kill my orange tree (which pretty much always has something wrong with it) and my 'nursery' of seedlings. I

for up to six months.I spoke to David Morris from Bayer, which makes Provado Vine Weevil Killer 2. He said there was no evidence to suggest that thiacloprid killed bees. But I choose not to use pesticides in my small garden, so have opted for alternatives

or grubs hiding below soil level to feed this hungry horde, and how do starlings know there's food there anyway?In the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch last January, starlings came in at number 2 in the top ten of most commonly seen garden birds - just behind

was the result of leatherjackets or chafer grubs, which are so abundant and damaging at this time of year. But on closer inspection I noticed that just about every single blade of affected grass was a golden yellow-orange colour and covered with a dense mass

starlings feeding on the lawn, not from any food I'd scattered, but simply pecking away searching for worms and grubs. And a blackbird whose youngster fledged from a nest in my ivy this week has also found the lawn a useful source of food.The drought during

, that badgers and birds won't dig up looking for grubs, that dogs won't ruin with their scorch marks. And worm casts? What worm casts? Lawn life as we know it replaced by a carpet of convenient, sterile 'turf' -  like paving slabs in disguise.But what is a