Search - Articles

of year.The hedge outside is covered with birds in all shapes and sizes, munching away at the many and left-overs I've put out for them. I've left them little heaps of Christmas pudding, crumbled up biscuits and I've filled up one of the peanut feeders

-escape balcony, over the block of back gardens, to see if I can spot any life anywhere. And with perfect timing, announced by a series of metallic ‘tsit tsit tsit’ notes, a small gang of titmice comes bobbing over the hedges and lands in next-door’s cherry tree

I parked in a side street in Forest Hill last week and walking down to the Horniman Museum I noticed something odd with a small Norway maple, Acer platanoides, growing in a rather untidy hedge. Some of the leaves were dappled with the pale blotches

We are being invaded. I had not seen many harlequin ladybirds in my garden this year, but a few weeks ago I noticed that the larvae were climbing over the hedge from next door, in droves. This south-facing fence is covered with ivy and a

, such as wheat. The little birds prefer the small seeds, while the pigeons are less than impressed. I cram fat balls (without nets) into peanut feeders or place them on top of the hedge. I also cut apples or pears in half and put them, cut surface uppermost

crucial time of year for wildlife? And it's not just ponds. In February I witnessed the clearing of shrubs and ivy by some councils - which were surely providing shelter for numerous hibernating creatures - and I've also seen contractors trimming hedges

and brown males. And one of the large spotted Melecta species was resting, just out of clear sight, at the very top of the hedge. They seem to favour the higher leaves, leaving the lower ones for hoverflies and blow-flies. I’m wondering if there is a

It's ten to nine on a weekday morning and the start of the last week of school. It's only a short walk to school and there is always the opportunity of peering over fences and hedges to see what else is going on in other people's gardens

The last few days we’ve had a toad wandering about near the back door. It ambled out from under the guinea pig’s carpet off-cut weather cover when I rearranged the hutch, and although I released it in the hedge it reappeared in the same place

peanuts, and liberal helpings of bird seed. Every foot or so, along the top of the hedge, I've placed apple halves and mushy pear, interspersed with cereal bowls full of water. They also have access to a small plate of boiled rice, so hopefully they won