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. Like long-tailed tits, goldcrests eat insects and spiders, but specialise in tiny morsels such as moth eggs. Their beaks are designed to pick out insects from between pine needles. In really cold winters they will occasionally come to garden feeders, so keep

, some cannas, bamboo canes, most of a fruit cage, various rodents, many spiders and assorted half-empty paint pots. Bit of a mess, really - especially when compared to Adam's shed.What it doesn't contain is much in the way of chemicals. I'm not strictly

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

curtains (bear with me, this sort of makes sense). Midsummer borders would be all brocade and swags and ferluffles, while late-summer curtains would be a lot simpler and probably with a few spiders' webs along the edges.I think, perhaps, it's time

brown species. But no, the white is spider silk. This one had been caught by some arachnid, trussed up with winding threads, but had still managed to escape and crawl, shackled, across the concrete. Respect.Vine weevils go exploring at night

magazine and web teams. Kevin lamented: "flowers that are labelled as 'salmon' in colour are always hideous". I couldn't agree more. Google Geranium 'Salmon Princess' for a treat.Abigail doesn't like pieris; Vic hates spider plants, although she concedes

' Delight' (which confusingly produces cherry tomatoes), and bush types to try include 'Tumbling Tom', 'Gartenperle' and 'Red Alert'.Please don't worry about 'bugs'. Indoor plants can be misted with water to increase humidity and halt red spider mite

foliage and ensure pots aren't placed too closely together. Dead foliage can lead to the onset of disease, while closely growing plants prevent airflow between them, providing the perfect conditions for diseases and infestations of blackfly and red spider

of gardening is excellent. To this day, bumble and solitary bees nest in the nooks and crannies of the dry stone walls. Countless other insects and spiders also inhabit the rocks, and at lower altitudes, lizards take advantage of the warm, dry spaces concealed

; 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