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, and are not implicated in the spread of any diseases. For the benefit of gardeners everywhere, these small but handsome insects are active almost all year round. It might be something to do with their furry coats.PS. Dungfly, dung-fly or dung fly? This is a tricky area

-escape balcony, over the block of back gardens, to see if I can spot any life anywhere. And with perfect timing, announced by a series of metallic ‘tsit tsit tsit’ notes, a small gang of titmice comes bobbing over the hedges and lands in next-door’s cherry tree

off and I went out to have a look. Nothing. All very curious until I went out again on Tuesday and had a look around. There, sheltering against the recesses of the bars and grills are several small garden snails and amongst them are some garden spiders

these wonderful creatures in my back garden. South London is now about the only place in the UK where you can regularly see these awesome monsters. My supposition is that when the housing boom spread across the area 100 to 150 years ago, it was one of the most

Just back from a long weekend in the village of Croscombe, in Somerset between Wells and Shepton Mallet, where The Landmark Trust has a fabulous 15th century building (Old Hall) to rent. Like so many holiday lets, the small garden could not really

have something to do with its diminutive size, but this beetle is only very rarely found in Britain, so I'm pleased it turned up in a small domestic garden - my parents'. They live at the foot of the South Downs near Newhaven. It's a lovely spot, but it

creation and management, especially for small garden ponds where even a small amount of leaf fall can foul the water. I'll add that to my feedback to the RSPB.Saturday was a fabulous blazing sunny day in East Dulwich and we made a family day out

Big news from the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch survey results just out: the long-tailed tit has made it, for the first time in the survey's 30-year history, into the top 10. I hardly ever saw these gregarious little birds until I moved to East Dulwich

A recent comment to a blog entry got me thinking about vine weevils. I haven't seen many in my garden for a few years. I wonder if this is the result of my zero-tolerance approach. Along with lily beetles, this is about the only creature I

I dug a hole in the garden on Sunday, not for any gardening purpose; the hamster had died and we were having a short funeral ceremony. Digging deep holes in my East Dulwich garden is always a problem. About 25 cm down I usually meet rubble where