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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

It's two years now since the ring-necked parakeets started screeching over the garden. The tallest trees around here are the Lombardy poplars a few doors down. I don't think they are nesting in them though, they don't look old enough to have

At certain times of the year, as I look out over my back garden, I see a huge heron perched on the chimney stacks of the next street. It's an infrequent, but fairly regular visitor and I often wonder what is attracting it. Our garden pond, up

off and I went out to have a look. Nothing. All very curious until I went out again on Tuesday and had a look around. There, sheltering against the recesses of the bars and grills are several small garden snails and amongst them are some garden spiders

earlier.We regularly get a pair in the garden, or sitting on the fence. There were four earlier this year, and I’m guessing this represented two generations. We don’t have large enough trees in our garden, so the nest must be in one of the Lombardy poplars

trees in our garden, but a few days ago I was convinced I could hear one in the gardens a few doors down, which have sycamores, limes and Lombardy poplars. But no matter how hard I listened, I could not pinpoint exactly where the sound was coming from

to glide effortlessly along. But if you pick them up they tie themselves in knots. Literally. They curl into a rough ball, looping their curls together into a living clove hitch.Any gardener should always be pleased to find centipedes. Since

and inquisitive children, eager to find out all about the wildlife they have found and held in their own hands. Their eyesight is so good, and they're all immensely proud of the often tiny specks of protoplasm which would be passed over in a blink by their parents

of wildlife down there. The Rye is a tad bigger than my back garden, so I can usually find something different.The first thing we see is a fox, loitering about the 'cat house'. As we reach the impenetrable front garden I can hear it walking about in the deep

. It was on one such former orchard that my hosts had put their house. I spent many happy hours between pre-wedding social engagements, mooching about outside. The 'garden' was little more than a cleared paddock, roughly mown by tractor-drawn brush cutter a few