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, solid bright apple green thorax and broad strong tail stripes (green in female, blue in male). This is a bit early for one of the large hawker dragonflies, which normally start to fly from mid-June onwards. I'm guessing it came from a small garden pond

in the washing off of the line. He’s small, but perfectly formed. At 35mm, excluding the antler jaws, he is way down below the usual size spectrum of 45-60mm. I’ve only ever seen one smaller, just over 27mm, found dead in a friend’s garden in Sydenham several

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

closely in the small back garden of our previous house in Nunhead. I was on the telephone looking out through the back bedroom window when one landed on the washing line pole. It made a few tentative taps with its beak, then hopped up the pole a few inches

millipedes. But, just like the longer-legged species, they are predators of other small invertebrates.There were hundreds of them. The rotting timber was obviously the ideal site to shelter in. When they set off, they have a lovely fluid motion, and seem

in case I was dangerous, or sizing me up as potential prey.They have slightly more interesting garden 'pests' in Florida. This paper wasp nest was tucked out of the way against the eves, and anyway it was very small.And one day I turned over a few small

legible and accessible!The garden of our semi-detached East Dulwich house in south London isn't huge at about 25 metres long, but it does boast a small pond and there are enough scruffy bits to encourage all sorts of wildlife. And some of the neighbouring

There's not much happening in my garden this week. I think we're scaring everything away. And I can't just blame the cats stalking their quarry; Saturday's bouncy castle and baker's dozen of squawking three- and four-year-olds hasn't added much

the garden. It was very low, only just clearing the apple tree. This may have had something to do with the large pigeon it was clutching in its talons. It flew, rather laboriously I thought, down over the gardens to the short row of tall trees that bound

couple of weeks had been moth heaven in East Dulwich. During the day the Jersey tigers had competed with the butterflies in colours and numbers and it was almost impossible to walk in the garden, or up the street, without being batted by one on its mad