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In the bright heat of this week's baking sunlight, a buzz of black and orange fur announces the arrival of what I think is one our cuddliest hoverflies. Merodon equestis is a large (12 - 15mm long), stout, bumblebee mimic, and although not quite as tubby as the bees it resembles,...

I think we have foxes living under our garden shed. I first noticed the scratching in the soil a week or so ago. It didn't look like very much excavation had occured and the hole didn't appear to go very far. But now we have more earth-moving going on. Then today I found the larg...

It's National Insect Week, so I'm obliged to mention insects at every opportunity. Organised by the Royal Entomological Society, its aim is to promote the study of insects, to encourage the wider world to understand why it is important to study them (gardeners insert your own rea...

The Friday before last was hot and humid, and as the sun fell the evening crept in sultry and still. Sitting in the kitchen I was aware that there was an inordinate number of moths fluttering about outside. This wasn't much of a surprise, the last couple of weeks had been moth he...

The foxes of East Dulwich are particularly well fed. I can tell this for sure, because I have been able to examine, very closely, what comes out of the other end of the fox. Last week, we received two parcels of fox dung on the pavement outside the front garden; one to the left, ...

Yes, we have no waxwings. Strange as this may seem, they appear to be avoiding south-east London. They're everywhere else though, and I am wondering if I will be the last naturalist in Britain to see one.The Bohemian waxwing, Bombycilla garrulus, to give it its full name, is a be...

After the wet and dismal weekend, I take a tentative stroll in the garden on a clear and bright Tuesday morning, and discover the first newt of the year sitting motionless at the bottom of the pond. I know it has been down there all winter, but the combination of dry day (getting...

The south-facing fence of our garden is covered all over with ivy, and the leaves are prime basking territory for all manner of insects. This last week, the solitary bees have started to reappear in droves. There are very many species all looking a bit like slimmer, racier relati...

I’m rather hoping that 2011 will be a good year for wasps. Unfortunately, my definition of a good year is sometimes at odds with other people’s. For me, a good year is seeing wasps by the bucket load.There is more to this than a perverse I-like-bugs-any-bugs-at-all sort of detach...

It’s life and death out there on the ivy at the moment. The far corner of our garden is a sheltered sun-trap, and the fence is now smothered in ivy flowers. The air is thick with the heavy scent of the blossoms, and the lazy buzzing of insects.Only one butterfly graces us today, ...