Search - Articles

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...

and enable the detergent to clean dishes/clothes. Surfactants, which are also present in some weedkillers, are very bad for amphibians.As for the wildlife, the insects are doing very well, but for how long if it stays dry? Nectar levels in plants

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...

designed around a 17th Century watermill, which also includes some newish woodland and four new ponds (including one which I have named after our own delightful wildlife fanatic, Kate Bradbury). I wish I could be there but on that day (19th June) I

with the garden wildlife, or at least I liked to think so. I remember my dad waiting for the blue tits to leave the nest box so he could quickly lift me up and show me the baby birds inside. Once, aged two, I found a worm that had been pecked at by a bird, so I

Butterflies have a starring role in the July 2011 issue of Gardeners' World magazine. There's a cut-out-and-keep ID guide, a feature on plants for butterflies and another on gardening for all three stages of their lifecycle. This wealth of content was prompted by Butterfly Conser...

I recently visited the community orchard at Haggerston Park. It makes a lovely little wildlife sanctuary amidst the concrete of built-up Hackney: all fruit trees, wildflowers and long grass. It's also home to a few ornamental plants, including pot

There's a mouse living in my compost bin. I first saw it one evening the other week, when I added a fresh layer of tomato side shoots and yellowing leaves. It leapt out of the bin and charged through the border. That frog looks just like a mouse, I thought (it was dark).Then last...

and patches of bare wall, I noticed two seedlings growing at the back of the north-facing border: ivy. The decision to introduce it to my garden has been taken out of my hands - this shade-loving, fast growing, wildlife-friendly climber has found it all

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, ...