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warning of ‘conservation concern’. These types of decline have already been seen in more obvious (and more newsworthy) insects, such as bumblebees, butterflies and moths.One thing is clear to me though - as the industrialisation of agriculture continues

of gardening is excellent. To this day, bumble and solitary bees nest in the nooks and crannies of the dry stone walls. Countless other insects and spiders also inhabit the rocks, and at lower altitudes, lizards take advantage of the warm, dry spaces concealed

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

as edibles like blackcurrant, beetroot and hop. The long hawthorn hedge make me crave one of my own – how much time could I spend searching it for insects, nesting birds and hedgehogs?Best of all were the apple trees in full blossom, which is a remarkable

Sapphire Class at Ivydale Primary School are now experts on bumblebees. We did a workshop on climate change so I took in a tray of bumblebee specimens and we talked about the potential consequences for these well-known and much-loved insects

in the garden. As with that other garden favourite, the robin, wrens are voracious hunters of insects, and with their inquisitive searching into every available cranny, they will get in there now to clear out the caterpillars, aphids and plant bugs before

wildlife, such as overwintering frogs, bees and other insects use compost heaps too. And take care if you have decking. The space beneath decking is the perfect environment for a family of rats - it's sheltered, warm, hard to get to, and food scraps can

frogs poking their heads out two months later, when watering my tomatoes.In autumn, determined that the frogs and insects would have a safe place to spend the winter, I left the grow bag in place, cutting down the tomato haulms and placing them and other

while for the ladybirds to arrive to the scene, but they nearly always come eventually. It helps not to be too tidy in autumn - ladybirds and other insects hibernate among dead foliage and leaf litter, so if you provide such shelter for them over winter

, so if you can save these jobs for spring, you'll probably help to increase numbers of these insects in your garden. They'll be more of them about to breed next spring and summer, so - theoretically at least - more food for their predators, including