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A plaintive mewling took me to the end of the garden a couple of days ago. At first I thought a cat had caught a bird or had cornered a fledgling. As I got closer I realised it was coming from a tree and wondered if some strange seagull was lost in East Dulwich. But no, it was a ...

Nearly back to normal now, after Christmas and New Year. Sunday saw us with 3-year-old scooting in Dulwich Park. Thankfully there was no wind, because it was blisteringly cold, and the ground was still covered in frost. So when I saw a small bird flitting through the branches of ...

There's a spider the size of a gardening glove in my compost bin. It obviously gets a good living in there, feeding on the flies, woodlice, beetles and earwigs, the remains of which can be vaguely guessed in its untidy sheet of a web. I wouldn't be surprised if it bit the occasio...

At last, a butterfly in my garden. Now I know from comments on previous blogs that others have already seen lots this year. There's a tendency to brag about them, I think. But my garden was empty of butterflies until Saturday. Then, like buses, three came along at once.A green-ve...

We have a bumblebee nest in our compost bin. I first noticed a month ago when the first few workers started coming and going. Now we have a steady stream. The bees are buff-tailed, Bombus terrestris, one of our commonest species.I've told the family not to worry. Unlike honeybees...

Just over a week ago I was outside one evening singing 'Happy Birthday' to my mum down the phone. Half way through I was interrupted by a huge male stag beetle flying low over the garden with a loud clockwork buzz. Fantastic.It's hard to believe these impressive beasts can get ai...

When the children first found the caterpillar, they were fascinated and asked me what sort of moth it might turn into. They were amazed when I told them that instead of a moth, it would turn into a sawfly the size of a hornet. Some of the parents looked slightly disturbed at the ...

Since having to wear reading glasses (my squinting started about 4 years ago), I do that 'double take' thing of having to square my face to something then back off a few inches to get it into focus. I did this a few days ago in the garden and was rewarded with the sight of Ledra ...

We are now positively awash with Jersey Tiger moths, Euplagia quadripunctaria. Named for its abundance on one particular of the Channel Islands, it had been well established in South Devon and apparently spreading along the coast into Dorset, Hampshire and Sussex when it first ap...

The warm humid evenings of late July and early August have brought out the flying ants again. These are the very common black pavement ant, Lasius niger. A few years ago we had a nest in one of our large plant pots and it was amazing to see the constant stream of large winged que...