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at the edge of the water in total darkness with bats swirling around me.Like so much of our wildlife, bats are having a hard time. This is mostly due to the widespread use of pesticides in agriculture. British bats feed exclusively on insects, so spraying

dedicated to wildlife.At times, I felt I was looking in the mirror at a South American version of myself. Unlike Fabiana, I doubt I will ever be in the position of having to commission the building of a water tower, but I can empathise with her desire

This Saturday (30 October) is RSPB Feed the Birds Day. To celebrate, I gave my feeders a good wash with hot water and disinfectant and bought some expensive bird seed. The birds, still busy eating aphids from the trees in the local park, are none

frogs poking their heads out two months later, when watering my tomatoes.In autumn, determined that the frogs and insects would have a safe place to spend the winter, I left the grow bag in place, cutting down the tomato haulms and placing them and other

outdoor jobs: sweep and scrub the patio.The pond is full of duckweed and not much else, so I'll remove that and find out what happened to the watercress and water forget-me-not (bounced out by bathing pigeons, probably). Then I need to top up a few pots

in polystyrene or plastic packaging, fed with artificial fertiliser and sprayed with artificial pesticides. They're rarely selected for their usefulness to wildlife, and they require as much watering and feeding as home-grown veg. I can't see how they're worth it

loudly. I put the theory to test by removing the bin lid, emptying a bucket of cold water on to the heap every day and hitting the bin with a rake whenever I went past. The rat was indeed evicted, but it always returned within a few days. There’s a limit