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2007 will be remembered as a very good year for wasps. But before people start complaining about their vicious stings and bad tempers, I must point out that wasps are actually our friends. After birds and spiders, they are the most important insect

wingspan is quoted as up to 75 mm across. Even though I caught the diminutive Horniman specimen in my hands, it is virtually impossible to judge insect size with any degree of accuracy unless you have a ruler to hand. I guess its span was something

.I had quite happily (and rather pompously I’m sorry to say) stated that these lovely insects were never a problem in the garden, because, although they are sap suckers, they prefer wild flowers to cultivated plants. Boy did I get that wrong. I was given

it's not legal, but I'm not aware of anyone being prosecuted for it.I attended a wildlife gardening conference recently, where one of the speakers, Jan Miller, author of Gardening for Butterflies, Bees and other benificial insects gave a presentation

Muehlenbeckia complexa that now threatens to engulf the fire-escape. It's a great place to watch insects sunning themselves on the leaves, but ne'er one ladybird larva have I seen until now.  On the other side of the fence, there is a fine wilderness of bramble

in the ground. They are mainly woodland insects, and nest in hollow trunks, branches or logs. Hence their predilection for Dulwich, the most heavily wooded part of the capital.It appears that the nest was spotted rather late in the year and a warning sign

must be the swift snatching up a flying insect. The last few evenings have been very good for insects bumping up against the lighted windows of the kitchen. Monday saw a female stag beetle, upturned, legs in the air, as she bumped into the wall

insects. Dysdera is well-equipped though, with large jaws that articulate up and down as well as left and right. It can open its mandibles, twist them round and skewer the carapace of its prey from above and below at the same time. And if it can't get a

There's something buzzing round the grape hyacinths. It's a fat, furry brown bee and it's being very animated. I love these insects and get a real buzz myself seeing them each year, because they're one of the true heralds of spring. Anthophora

, a painful irony given they are nearly the only terrestrial crustaceans alive today, and that in the normal course of events they need cool damp places, otherwise their rather inefficient cuticle lets them dry out too quickly. Unlike insects which