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, and therefore a must for every garden.Designing your wildlife gardenWhen planting a nectar border or any selection of flowers to attract insects, think first of what's best for them and second, of what you want to look at. The two are not remotely exclusive

. Hot and humid is best, apparently.In any one area, ants from thousands of nests will take to the skies at once, forming large, mating swarms. It's exciting, not least for insect-eating birds, which have rich pickings for a day or two. Of the bird

Late-summer nectarAs some insects are still out foraging in late-summer, it's a good idea to provide food for them with nectar-rich, late-flowering plants.Plants for beesIn late-summer, many plants have finished flowering, but bees, butterflies

stems are perfect for the bee hotel. Easy to gather and cut, they are available in a range of diameters, including 3-5mm, as preferred by the bees.Attracting insects and wildlife to your gardenPlants for beesWildlife-friendly plantsMaking a stag beetle

stercoraria. It's scientific name means, rather unsurprisingly 'dung-eating dung-inhabiter' and it's one of those insects that is very easy to overlook in the garden. In a grazing meadow they are obvious and multitudinous insects, speckling the fresh cow pats

It’s always fascinating, and stimulating, when people ask me to identify insects they’ve found in their gardens. On Monday I was stopped by one of the teachers at six-year-old’s school and shown an image of a brightly coloured moth on his phone. I

-like-bugs-any-bugs-at-all sort of detached scientific curiosity. There is a bit of that. But mostly, it is because if we have a good year for wasps, we also have a good year for so many other insects. It’s all tied in to their seasonal emergence behaviour.Unlike bees, which can

Winter wildlifeMost garden wildlife hibernates over winter, as food is in short supply and freezing temperatures make life difficult. Learn how to help wild creatures through the cold winter months, below.In winter, wild animals and insects hunker

the bathroom light on each night.The notion of bug boxes came back to me recently when I had a quick look through the 'my garden' section of the RSPB's Homes for Wildlife web pages. Under 'homes for insects' it suggests installing or building one. Well, I

at the edge of the water in total darkness with bats swirling around me.Like so much of our wildlife, bats are having a hard time. This is mostly due to the widespread use of pesticides in agriculture. British bats feed exclusively on insects, so spraying