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In the Horniman Museum Gardens earlier today and a brightly coloured butterfly caught my eye as it visited a low dandelion flower. I skulk up to it and discover a painted lady, Cynthia cardui. This is only the third I have seen this year.A native

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

and cherry laurel, but against one hoarding is a mass of ivy and it’s still in flower.Ivy is a very important late nectar source for all sorts. The bush is ablaze and abuzz with insects. Twenty or more red admirals and small tortoiseshells vie with countless

him. Not surprisingly, there were lots of tears.I'm not sure if it was one from the nest, or elsewhere. We seem to have bumblebee heaven just outside the back door - the chive flowers are weighed down with them. Not only do we have this deliciously

On Sunday 4th of May, the winds of change swept through East Dulwich. And being an old country hand I could tell the moment I stepped out of the door that something was afoot. It wasn't a tang of salt air from the distant ocean, or a warning red sky

It’s all looking rather still and damp in the garden now. Autumn, it seems, has come at last. Over the Guy Fawkes weekend, there were reports on iSpot and Flickr of red admirals and hoverflies visiting the sun-lit ivy, but, in my garden at least

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

To Soicherons, Villars-Dompierre, in the Cote d'Or region of France for two weeks and the wildlife here is subtly different to that in East Dulwich. For one thing we are surrounded by large flowery meadows, hedges dripping with Mirabelle plums