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. Not surprisingly for an RSPB initiative, most people (over 99%) wanted to improve their gardens for birds, but I was really very pleased to see that over 95% wanted to improve them for insects too.One of this month's tips (leave a fallen tree where it is or move

is heavy London clay about 30-50 cm down, and nothing like the well-drained calcareous or sandy soil indicated by the textbooks. But I know, from personal experience, that local gardens are often full of rubble, and as well as improving the drainage, much

harvest of rich dark soil ... full of egg shells. Oh well. They soon get broken into pieces as we mulch them in; they'll help improve the drainage.

I've always been rather sceptical about the benefits of bug boxes, ladybird and lacewing hotels and other artificial constructions marketed to improve the roosting conditions for helpful insects in the garden. I was once given a solar-powered insect