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I'm just back from a weekend visiting an old friend in Banwell, near Weston-Super-Mare. Always envious of his rambling house and large walled garden, we got to talking over garden wildlife and the troubles of traipsing fox dung through the kitchen

I've been building, not so much a garden pond, as a playground pond. And the first problem with playgrounds is that they are all-over tarmac. The obvious site for Ivydale Primary School's new pond was a sunny, but extremely bleak corner next

As usual, during the Easter holiday break, we find ourselves watching garden wildlife in sunnier climes -- in the Isle of Wight. At St Lawrence, on the southern tip of the Island, not only are we significantly nearer the equator than East Dulwich

My two compost bins are being very productive. As well as yielding their first crop of usable compost, now spread over back and front gardens to great effect, they are also home to a heaving mass of wildlife. Every time I open the lids a great cloud

on the sills for the half-tame squirrel. We duly obliged.On their return we got to chatting about gardens and wildlife, what the swifts were up to, how many stag beetles had come flying over. When talk turned to the half-tame squirrel I was told, very

I dug a hole in the garden on Sunday, not for any gardening purpose; the hamster had died and we were having a short funeral ceremony. Digging deep holes in my East Dulwich garden is always a problem. About 25 cm down I usually meet rubble where

There is a delicate balance between wanting to see nature in the garden, and suffering the consequences of its visits. I am decidedly at the easy end of the spectrum, and all I have to worry about are a few dollops of fox faeces in return for close

and insects abound. There's an increasing list of scarce and unusual insects turning up there.On 26 June I was there on a blistering hot day and the whole place was abuzz with wildlife. Two insects stuck in my mind. One was a tiny, but very pretty, picture

on to their precious cargo. I'm not too worried about the grass, but I am concerned that without the damp September air, will I get to see any autumnal wildlife?I photographed these ink caps, Coprinus comatus, a few years ago in Brenchley Gardens in Nunhead

in the washing off of the line. He’s small, but perfectly formed. At 35mm, excluding the antler jaws, he is way down below the usual size spectrum of 45-60mm. I’ve only ever seen one smaller, just over 27mm, found dead in a friend’s garden in Sydenham several