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I hope you had a good Christmas and a break from your normal routine - maybe a little extra sleep and a lot of extra time in the garden or greenhouse. I’m enjoying the post-Christmas peace and quiet, and the chance to spot some winter birdlife. At this time of year, I make sure t...

I recently visited the home of Sue Kidger, a hedgehog carer from Twickenham. As far as I’m aware she’s the only hedgehog carer in the south London area. Sue’s transformed the top floor of her house into a rehabilitation centre-cum-hog hospital, which has 20 cages full of sick, in...

and cotoneaster. But what I’d really like is a crab apple. It’s probably not the best option for my small, shady plot, as it requires a fair amount of sun, but I think I might chance it. A friend has one growing in her garden and I always feel a pang of jealousy

I saw a lot of lizards on my trip around South America. There were brown lizards, green lizards, bright blue ones, and some that blend in perfectly with the red and black volcanic environment they inhabit.I was lucky enough to see a pair of lizards mating in Colombia. The male li...

It’s been fascinating to follow the tweets of butterfly enthusiasts as they marked the arrival of warm weather during the last fortnight, by discoveries of green hairstreaks, Duke of Burgundy Fritillaries and even some large tortoiseshells in the Isle of Wight. I can’t match any ...

While many plants have been late to flourish this year, I’m pleased to report that the blue and great tits that forage in my garden every spring are bang on schedule.Regular readers of this blog will know that every year my tiny courtyard garden is host to a pair of blue tits and...

, and occasionally a frog will be sitting in it. As far as I know they have never bred there. But somewhere else, near at hand, hidden from my view, there must be other small garden ponds, more frog- and toad-friendly ponds, where successful spawning does take place

Last week, Butterfly Conservation published a report called The State of Britain's Larger Moths 2013. It makes a depressing read, demonstrating a marked decline in the number of our larger moths over the last 40 years. The survey, conducted in association with Rothamstead Researc...

sitting in their centrally heated kitchens, but since it is part of the natural order, wildlife ought to be expected to cope with it each year. However, it is the false start, which is perhaps the most dangerous weather phenomenon. The biological clock

“I heard some growling from the shallow pond”, said the text message, from my mother. Frogs have been hiding under rocks and shrubbery in my mum's garden since she moved in nearly 17 years ago; but this is the first time there has been any 'growling'.I dug my mum her first pond 1...