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To my mind, the asparagus beetle, Crioceris asparagi, is one of our most beautiful insects. The Mondrianesque juxtaposition of its red border, creamy yellow squares and inky blue-black outlining is just astonishing.Although only 5-6mm long, it's a supremely elegant beetle, neatly...

A short while ago I was driving past Peckham Rye, when my eye was caught by a series of white halos on the grass under some of the trees. It looked as if several small snow storms had targeted some of the larger and more handsome specimens across the park. Not all of the large tr...

The last few days we’ve had a toad wandering about near the back door. It ambled out from under the guinea pig’s carpet off-cut weather cover when I rearranged the hutch, and although I released it in the hedge it reappeared in the same place the next day.At first I wondered if i...

I though the four-year-old and his friend were being noisy on the trampoline, but they were not the source of the shrill screaming last Friday. It was about 2.30 in the afternoon and the wild shouts suddenly stopped as a sparrowhawk screeched over the garden. It was very low, onl...

Going for walks in Dulwich and Sydenham Hill Woods, Peckham Rye or Nunhead Cemetery, I often hear the tap-tap-tapping of great spotted woodpeckers from high up in the trees as they test the dead boughs for tasty insect morsels. We have no large trees in our garden, but a few days...

I don't know how long the frisbee had been lying there, but when I broke it free from the stiff frosted grass beside the pond, it left a circle of tell-tale yellowing stems and roots beneath. When I turned it over I was maybe expecting some torpid snails, or perhaps a dew-encrust...

We've had to cut down most of the Clematis montana. It had already done some damage to the featheredge and was threatening to bring down the entire fence. Oh well. It was a fast grower when we first planted it and has provided us with a huge drift of pale, blousy flowers for the ...

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 of the lawn, then zoomed up and away. ...

It was blisteringly cold on Sunday, and the water butts were frozen over, but it was not a deep frost. So repairing and replacing the raised beds up at the allotment was relatively easy. The old scaffold planks we put in four or five years ago have served their purpose (neatness,...

One of our cats sat motionless on the edge of the pond today, head drooped down almost touching the water as if he were asleep. But the occasional tic gave him away: he was watching newts. The bright sunshine lit up a corner of our triangular pond, just where the water is deepest...