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. At each scale an ant would stop, tickle it with its antennae, and suck up the small droplet of honeydew that was presented.Neither of these insects has ever reached pest proportions in my garden, so I've never had need to regard them as pests. On the other

nursery presented me with a dead specimen found flying around indoors last year.Unlike the berberis sawfly, which has caused quite a running commentary on this blog, Cimbex is never a garden pest, since it never reaches pest proportions. Instead

surprising. And since there are lots of them, and they’re very noisy, and messy, and untidy, it’s also hardly surprising that they’re not exactly welcomed. In fact, in Newhaven, they are regarded as a bit of a pest.Despite viral internet videos of gulls

, pinks and yellowy greens.The nondescript green or brown caterpillar feeds on a huge range of native and cultivated plants, but it's usually very secretive and never a pest. It was sitting in its distinctive pose: head down body slightly raised with its

to deficiencies and lower immunity to disease, or failure to forage for natural food (such as garden pests) that they would normally eat?

to be a particular problem; this is a very distant rumour for me though, none has yet made its way this far into the capital.I’m not surprised that deer can be a right pest in the garden, elegant and beautiful though they are. For the last few decades

with the stems - only as you add the final few does the whole lattice lock solid.Hang your bee hotel on a sunny wall, sheltered from the rain, and wait for the mason bees to investigate it in the spring.AdamAlthough Japanese knotweed is a real pest, its dead

and insects abound. There's an increasing list of scarce and unusual insects turning up there.On 26 June I was there on a blistering hot day and the whole place was abuzz with wildlife. Two insects stuck in my mind. One was a tiny, but very pretty, picture

on the broad leaves, Fallopia is more or less sterile when it comes to wildlife. But this may be about to change. I notice that there are rumours of importing a small but pretty Japanese insect, the psyllid bug Aphalara idatori, to try and control the knotweed

, where birds such as sparrows can hunt for caterpillars and garden pests. A clean bird bath provides them with water to drink and clean their feathers (which enables them to insulate themselves against the cold).There’s nothing like that in my garden