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the bird's recent success down to the possibility that it has adapted to eating seeds and peanuts on bird tables and garden feeders. Normally it is mainly an insect feeder. This is obviously good news for the bird, and for the RSPB, which actively advocates

was unprepared. But a quick dash home for the camera found them still settled, and with fewer airborne insects, the residents of East Dulwich were back going about their business, mostly unaware at the spectacle perched atop the street furniture.This wasn't a

exactly which one of our nearly 40 species are scuttling about. Rather than spinning a web to catch prey, they hunt by chasing after small insects on the soil and in the leaf litter. They get their English name from this behaviour and it was long believed

drove over to see me because he'd seen these strange, rather-more-yellow-than-usual pupae, latched firmly on to garden plants and nettles.The ladybird has got to be the most widely identifiable insect in our gardens. Most people can recognise a ladybird

doubt that it could be anything other than the western conifer seed-bug, Leptoglossus occidentalis. My nephew took the photograph, above, on his mobile, and although it is blurred, there is definitely no mistaking this distinctive and fascinating insect

salvage for the crumble.We don't have the most regimented of gardens, in fact it's a bit wild sometimes. But wildlife is, by definition, wild. As I said in the magazine, it has no time for straight lines, clipped edges, smart displays, or level lawns. We

in the waste below.It's remarkable how much life a compost bin can attract. Books will tell you that a compost heap is one of the best garden features to attract wildlife but, somehow, this 'life' inside the bin can go unnoticed.We gardeners normally only

It’s life and death out there on the ivy at the moment. The far corner of our garden is a sheltered sun-trap, and the fence is now smothered in ivy flowers. The air is thick with the heavy scent of the blossoms, and the lazy buzzing of insects

Within days, two scientific reports on Britain’s wildlife have made national news headlines because of their dire prognoses. The State of the UK’s Birds 2012, produced by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, British Trust for Ornithology

blue tit hopping around the honeysuckle. After a thorough investigation, it stocked up on suet treats from the feeders, and flew off. It returned several times, each time looking for insects among the plants before taking food from the feeders