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What a spring we're having. Provisional Met Office reports suggest April was the warmest on record. It was also the 11th driest, based on average rainfall across the UK. Scotland's rainfall has been 110% above normal levels, while the South-East has

20 seconds worrying what the neighbours would think, and then relaxed, happy with our new arrival.My bumblebees (RIP) were rescued from friends who were landscaping their garden; some of my frogs were rescued from a kitchen drain and the rest I picked

It was a sad message I tweeted from @bugmanjones last Monday: “The hornet nest in Dulwich Park has been destroyed. Council vandalism or ‘helpful’ busybody? Who knows. Nature conservation at its worst.”I was alerted by a friend, Penny, who

and Their Haunts by the Rev. C.A. Johns, was published in 1862 by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, on the back of his success with Flowers of the Field (1851). Both books were in print for over a century, and it's easy to see why.To start, Johns

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

A few weeks ago I wrote about moving a bumblebee nest from a friend's garden. At the end of the blog I mentioned that I'd found a wax moth in the nest.Wax moth is a native, natural predator of the bumblebee, but it's one of its biggest enemies

invite myself to stay with my friend in Kent, and we sit in her garden and listen to the cuckoos. But this year we didn't hear any.The number of cuckoos in the UK has fallen by 65% over the past 30 years. No-one really knows why, but British Trust

.Cowslip, Primula verisLeft to its own devices, the foxglove tree, Paulownia tomentosa can grow to a height and spread of 12m x 10m. But if cut down to the ground annually, it will produce long (3m) stems with leaves up to 60cm wide.Foxglove tree, Paulownia