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In East Dulwich, this year, the garden ornament of choice is ... the animal skull. Now this might seem a little macabre, but I find something rather aesthetically pleasing in the form, shape and texture of old bones.It all started several years ago

, using railway sleepers, three high (about 50 cm), to make a raised water body. Triangular in shape, 2 metres long, with a deep corner dug down a further 50 cm and a shallow corner for marginal plants. Three species of damselfly, two species of dragonfly

and lays her pale beige marshmallow-shaped eggs (I estimated about 250), and that's it. Job done.Like most insects, her adult life is very short and with only one aim: to start off the next generation. This was only the second female I've ever seen

into me.Centipedes don't have jaws in the conventional sense; instead, they have two long scimitar-shaped fangs. These are evolved from what was once their first pair of legs, and reach from their attachment at the back of the neck right round to meet in a

and empty shell, hollowed out by the minute parasitoid 'wasp', Praon. The wasp eats the tender insides of the aphid, leaving a dry, mummified skin (left). It then burrows out through the underside and spins a disk-shaped cocoon underneath its victim

or so semi-bonsai topiary trees. Many are sculpted into bobble 'cloud' shapes or manicured to form miniature hedges and climbers around the intricate buildings. They really make the place a magical world and produce a series of spectacular vistas

species of rove beetle regularly turn tail and disappear into the morass when I lift off the lids. Last week I found a shiny black domed beetle about the size and shape of a kidney bean - Hister merdarius. It's very scarce, so has no common name and being

of stairs. Instead of a tight whorl forming the usual globe shape, the helix is stretched out into a point.I'm guessing that no matter how much I go on about snails, most people will regard them as a nuisance and a pest. But maybe this is because we haven