Search - Articles

the constant stream of large winged queens (and the slightly smaller males) take to the air for their mating flight. Up above, the swifts were having a bountiful harvest. I have only noticed the wingless queens this year, after they land and shed their wings

of the leaves when I spotted a ruddy brown bundle next to the ivy thicket. There was a fox asleep on the roof of the shed.It turned its head towards me as I cracked open the casement to take a picture. Not a very good one, I have to admit, I need a telephoto

stacked layers of old railway sleepers. It's not large, only 3.5 by 1.5 metres. And although it is over a metre deep in one corner, it shelves to nothing in another. Oh well, I'll just use the rest on the shed roof, where the roofing felt has ripped

the blue of the wooden compost bins. Yes blue. They match the shed and aren't really that bright - they've weathered to a dark rustic tone.And feeding on the fly maggots is a whole series of other insects. There's a veritable ecosystem in there. Several

the garden, but our resident south London foxes liked to play with them and many have been damaged or gone missing. Those that remain are nailed to the shed and the flagpole. The sheep jawbone eventually also fell apart because of their meddling, but the cat

- spiders are a thuggish bunch and there is always the danger of cannibalism. Although, in this case I don’t think he had too much to worry about. I think she’d probably already eaten too many wasps.

definite and well-monitored spread of hornets into parts of south-east England (and London) where they were previously absent. But unlike other wasps, they are not loft-dwellers and are unlikely to take up residence in floor-spaces, sheds or holes

, but I do remember a few years ago a neighbour lamenting the loss, to a fox, of her leather handbag, which she’d accidentally left on the doorstep.