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For anyone who thought the cold winter might have been a bit harsh for wildlife, I hope the recent heatwave has been an eye-opener. I’ve certainly never seen so much insect life in April before. The garden has been awash with orange-tips, holly

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

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

The foxes have been busy in my garden again. I haven’t seen them recently, but they leave their tell-tale signs. Occasionally I have cause to curse them, notably when I move the kids’ climbing frame to mow the lawn and find a putrescent latrine

hoof-prints all over the small area of lawn, right down to the picnic tables outside the back door.Gazing out through the windows, at any time of day, we were met with what I'd usually consider equally exotic garden guests: pheasants, green finches

In the October issue of Gardeners’ World magazine, I ask Richard Jones and James Alexander-Sinclair for their views on autumn tidying in relation to the harm it can cause overwintering wildlife. As their recent blogs demonstrate, they don't see eye

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

actually established it as 'his'. He now patrols it from dawn to dusk, scampering around eating apples, turning leaves and pecking the lawn for grubs. He’s not frightened of us, or anything, it seems, as he has started chasing off other birds which try

the audit. High scorers included Adam Pasco and Lucy Hall (78 points each), who narrowly missed being Wildlife Champions because they don't have ponds. David Hurrion came second with 70 points, being let down by his formal fish pond and lack of lawn. Tamsin

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