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elbows whenever I go past. It's a tough old brute. So I have no worries at all that it is being attacked by a battalion of major garden pests.It's been very mild this winter so it's no surprise that things are already active. The new leaf shoots

of how interested in wildlife the owners of these myriad plots actually are. I, and 54,450 others, registered with the scheme, and 26,197 actively participated in it by surveying wildlife or reporting changing garden activities.It turns out I am not a

cycle, surviving the winter in the silk-cocooned egg stage, Tegenaria females can live for several years, a result of living in those sheltered voids and avoiding the extremes of wet and cold suffered by outdoor species.I once very cavalierly picked up

an overwintering chrysalis. This butterfly is unique among our British species in that it hibernates in both caterpillar and chrysalis stage. Those that spent winter as a caterpillar will have a bit of catching up to do and should start emerging in May.On Sunday

, Hampshire and Sussex when it first appeared in London around 2005.I've now given up noting when I see it, since this is inevitably many times a day. A flash of orange - no it's not a painted lady, it's the tiger. It's not a true day-flying moth, since

…and October…and November, and before I knew it we had a winter without any apparent autumn. All those end of summer flies and beetles I expected never showed up. And no fungi either. It was all very disappointing.Postscript. It's just rained, all I needed

species, I did not get close enough), a cloud of winter gnats (Trichocera species) were dancing over the middle of the lawn, and several flies were dying like flies around the pond.I really value my garden wildlife, but I have to admit that it is not all

high up on the trunk of an old tree at the edge of the clearing. It’s a nuthatch. From this distance its grey-blue plumage makes it look elegant and sleek, rather than the ‘plump’ suggested by all the birding guides. Maybe it’s just had a tough winter

their acrobatics.It is a strange habit of these endearing and pretty little birds that, come winter, they congregate together in mixed-species flocks. And sure enough, as I struggle to adjust the focusing to keep up with their quick movements, I can make out a

UK butterflies to overwinter as an adult - peacock, comma and brimstone are the others, although the red admiral might start qualifying if it continues to survive our warmer winters. Any of these insects ought to have a head start as soon