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No, it’s not quite time for hibernation yet. Just a bit of sun in the garden and all kinds of intriguing insects are out again. I thought maybe I’d seen the last of this year’s hoverflies, but a drowsy marmalade fly, Episyrphus balteatus

virtually every day - while mine is downright messy. My garden will never be opened to the public, but there are a lot more hidey places for wildlife. I've just checked through my homepage at the RSPB Homes for Wildlife (HFW) site and I've now managed

, the wonder and excitement of garden wildlife. You really do not know what to expect next. Maybe it will be a grass snake after all. Of course, there was the time that polecat ferret looked in at the cat flap…

I'm called to the end of the garden by the 10-year-old. "Daddy, is that a hornet?" she asks, pointing to a big brown insect sitting on a leaf near the swing. What a wonderful thing if it is, I think. But no, it's not a hornet, it's a hornet

A few years ago I got a terrible swingeing letter from a gardener complaining at my lack of concern over the damage caused by Palomena prasina, the common green shieldbug. I love this clunky green beast, with its clockwork waddle and marzipan scent

My 2010 garden tally of butterfly species is now up to six. We've had single visits from large white, comma, peacock and small tortoiseshell. They obviously didn't find much of interest in my garden, so dipped down, bustled about one circuit

It's been a very good year for codling moths in our garden. I can't say I've seen many of the moths themselves, but it's obvious there are plenty of them. Each time I cut into one of the windfall apples I am met with a crumbling mouldy brown mass

I’ve just come back from visiting my parents, who live in Newhaven, on the Sussex coast, between Brighton and Eastbourne; there were lots of gulls in their garden. As they live only about a mile from the pebble beaches of Seaford Bay, this is hardly

In the Horniman Museum Gardens earlier today and a brightly coloured butterfly caught my eye as it visited a low dandelion flower. I skulk up to it and discover a painted lady, Cynthia cardui. This is only the third I have seen this year.A native

Walking back from the Horniman Museum last week took me past a large oaktree growing just inside a front garden. The tree looks like an old pollardand must pre-date the early 20th century houses hereabouts. What caught myattention were all