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grey slugs (Limax maximus) were still in the throes of intense mollusc copulation.It may sound like a bit of a joke, but slugs are the supreme sexual acrobats, and their mating gyrations are sensuous well beyond the limits of their apparently simple

Last year I wrote about autumn tidying and the effect this can have on wildlife. I left my garden untouched over winter, leaving hibernating creatures snuggled under a duvet of fallen leaves and rotting stems. None of my plants died or were ravaged

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

. Then one morning, a shadow, a brown shape...a hedgehog. Whoops!Released to continue feeding on my slugs (yes, even the editor of Gardeners' World Magazine has slugs in his garden - but not many!), the humane trap was reset, and the waiting continued

piles, under sheds and in compost heaps. They breed from early to late-summer, giving birth to up to seven hoglets at a time, and feed on earthworms, beetles, caterpillars, and - happily for gardeners - slugs.I've never seen a hedgehog where I live

Hedgehogs need somewhere to hibernate in winter, so here's your chance to provide them with a cosy home. This wooden hedgehog house should entice them away from bonfire stacks and ensure they stay in your garden ready to feast on slugs in the spring

pleased by the discovery of slugs, snails and leaf miners. One commenter suggested I take a closer look at leaf miners, which he described as "fascinating".Leaf miners literally 'mine' leaves, tunnelling through them and eating them from the inside, before

tiny) garden.The garden isn't perfect and I've a long way to go, but I've documented my success by the variety of garden visitors I've gained since the transformation: blue tits and great tits, bumblebees, butterflies, moths, slugs, snails and leaf

around your garden grazing on aphids and slugs. If you let full-sized hens into your borders then they will kick soil all over the shop and peck large holes in the emerging shoots of your most precious plants. Bantams are less destructive, but if the main

and inquisitive children, eager to find out all about the wildlife they have found and held in their own hands. Their eyesight is so good, and they're all immensely proud of the often tiny specks of protoplasm which would be passed over in a blink by their parents