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in the thicket of climber on the fence. The first ladybird of the year, a seven-spot, sunned itself on the ivy. And one of my favourite spiders is back.Pisaura mirabilis is a beautifully sleek and elegant creature, dusky grey with a beige streak down its back. It

in there.The garden spiders, Aranaeus diadematus, are starting to get very large and obvious, especially those round the compost bins. We compost everything we can, including kitchen waste, so clouds of fruit flies emerge every time I lift off the lid. Even

.Next is what looks like a tiny animated scrubbing brush; it's the larva of a beetle, Ctesias serra. Related to carpet beetles, it scavenges on bits of insects left by spiders that make their messy webs under loose bark on old trees. Its long bristles protect

in there. There are no skaters. They were usually the first insects to arrive and we used to have a squadron of them zooming over the surface. This bunch took advantage of a drowning spider. And there are no boatmen or beetles yet either. But Saturday saw

; it zigzagged off crazily across the playground and came to rest on one of the creeper-covered walls. When I returned to finish off on Sunday a garden spider had spun its web across to the stump. Otherwise nothing.But I know that next year, the pond will be home