I had the chance to spend a bit of time in the garden today, starting to dig a new border in the winter sunshine. I was not alone for long!

I can't tell you how much I love my Robins, so I'm just going to have to share my affection for them in some of today's photos instead.

The thing is, most of the birds that visit my garden come and go, spending a bit of time here before flitting off to other gardens…

One of the things I find invaluable in maintaining my drive and determination to improve my garden for wildlife is to keep a photo record of progress. And now, at the turn of the year, is a great moment to pause and reflect on the year just gone - and hopefully rejoice at some of the delights that occurred.

I started 2019 remarking how many flowers were still in bloom in the garden, with Common Poppy, Corn Marigold and…

It's raining again as I type, and the forecast says that it won't stop until after dark, which is a shame because after the festive indulgences of the last couple of days, it would have been good to get into the garden.

However, the beauty of this season is that it brings opportunities to engross yourself in a good wildlife book and learn a little more about what you might see in your garden in the year ahead…

It’s always nice to be able to bring you a story from a garden other than my own, and today I have an inspiring tale of a home experiment to see what happens when you vary how often you cut your lawn.

The gardener is Jane Taylor, an RSPB volunteer now living in the wilds of Dartmoor, but her trial took place over nine years in her previous garden in coastal Hampshire. The starting point was just her bog-standard…

I always say that getting ready for Big Garden Birdwatch starts at least 3 months (and sometimes 30 years) before the count itself. So, with six weeks to go (the count is always the last weekend in January), I thought I ought to get in the garden and check that everything is in order.

Now I'm sure I don't need to say that a big part of the preparations are about ensuring your feeders are filled, but a glance around the…

A loud 'zit-zit!' call grabbed my attention in the garden yesterday, sharper and more penetrating than most of the birdsounds I hear. It came from a bird that typically needs its voice to be heard above the noise of rushing and gushing waterfalls and weirs, hence the cut-through nature of the sound - it was a Grey Wagtail.

In typical bounding flight, it looped down to the pond edge, for the draw of the waterside…

Oh, the sheer and simple pleasure of late autumn sunshine! I managed to get into the garden today during daylight hours and the skies were pure blue, the wind light, and the garden radiated joy after days and days of grey and damp.

The Robins were in full voice. They are one of those birds that really open wide to let the notes tumble out.

A Grey Squirrel was clearly in need of a sunbathe, and its position of preference…

With the days short and conditions often dank, the impetus to get into the garden can flag at this time of year, but there are a few little jobs that can be done in just 10 minutes or so each week which can help the garden and its wildlife.

Top of the list at this time of year is clearing the leaves as they fall. Of course, there is good reason (or you might call it a good excuse!) to leave them in places where they won…

You can only feel great sympathy for the people around the country suffering from the flooding at the moment. Water is such a precious thing, but it can also be an unpredictable and powerful force.

In my garden down in coastal Sussex, the last month has just seemed relentlessly wet, although I'm sure our rain totals here are nothing compared to what people have been facing further north.

I do keep a rain gauge, which…

Would you agree that the commoner something is, the more likely we are to overlook it? I've often thought about that for the Starling - it is only as their numbers have declined that I have really begun to appreciate what an amazing bird it is, from its star-spangled plumage to its incredible mimicry to its mega-group murmuration displays.

Perhaps the bird that has now occupied the space of the Starling in the 'so…

There are not many things I hate, but the clocks going back is one of them. That's the end of even seeing the garden when I get in from work, let alone doing anything in it.

So, although I have absolutely nothing to show you from my garden this week, what I do have are some photos to show the progress of one of my meadow experiments.

I've been extolling the virtues of turning a bit of your garden lawn into a meadow…

Ducks tend to be very rare in gardens. I realise that I’ll now get a flood of letters from people telling me that they DO get ducks, but those gardens are the exception, not the rule. It generally takes a big garden containing a very big pond (or a lake just over the fence) for ducks to be a regular feature; as an example, my 15-metre long pond has yet to attract a single duck in four years.

What many of us do get…

Well, it has been pouring here in my Sussex garden much of the week. The pond has been very grateful, but the bird feeders have been really quiet in the downpours. If this was an Indian Summer there'd still be Red Admiral and Speckled Wood butterflies and Common Darter dragonflies on the wing, but instead there has been a dearth of insects...

...except, that is on the Ivy. What a miracle plant it is, to burst into…

"Extremely common everywhere, frequenting our gardens and shrubberies, and when the time comes taking heavy toll from fruits of all kinds." Those were the words of William Borrer to describe the Song Thrush in his 1891 book, "The Birds of Sussex".

I was privileged to edit the 2014 tome of the same name, for which the Song Thrush entry starts, "It has been a source of great sorrow for many that Song…

Dear Reader, I give you the most amazing insect you are likely to see in your garden.

(Cue drumroll)

Ta dah!

It's a bit like that moment on Britain's Got Talent where an act walks onto stage and you so hope they are going to be good but you're prepared for it to flop badly.

So come on, little moth - what trick do you have for us?

Wait for it, wait for it...

Yes, this is the moth that can hang motionless…

Although I'm mad-keen about wildlife-friendly gardening, I also have an unbridled passion for birdsong, which at last found its chance to shine when a compilation-track of my recordings got to number 18 in the pop charts this year in what we called Let Nature Sing. (Two hundred thousand You Tube views and counting, I'll have you know!)

Of course, the two things go together very nicely: the garden wouldn't be the…

In case you weren't aware, today is Global Climate Strike Day in which thousands of schoolkids across the UK and many more across the world will show their concern for the climate crisis and urge leaders, decision makers and all of us to change to a fossil-fuel-free future.

As 'grown-ups' are invited along, I'll be attending the Brighton rally to show my support and solidarity. And while I was on my knees making my…

There are three key points in the year when some unusual faces (of the birdy kind) can turn up in your garden:

• The first is during bouts of harsh weather, which can force some birds to abandon their usual haunts and overcome their natural nervousness in their desperate search for food;
• The second is in spring when many birds are migrating north and a few might briefly drop into your garden as they pass through;
• And the…

One of the most important books about wildlife-friendly gardening ever written is called No Nettles Required by the Daily Telegraph columnist and Sheffield University senior lecturer, Dr Ken Thompson. I won't praise him too much as he sometimes reads this blog - we don't want it to go to his head - but for those who haven't read it it is not only enlightening but also laugh-out-loud funny. The main message of the book…

When I set out to turn an area of my garden into a wildflower meadow, I had certain wildlife in mind that I hoped would benefit. I wanted it to host breeding grasshoppers and a range of meadow butterflies such as Meadow Brown and Common Blue, and I hoped to see bats hunting above.

Well, the meadow was sown and prepared in autumn 2017, the grasses and meadow perennials have grown wonderfully, and almost all my target species…

Doing things to help wildlife in your own garden is one thing (and a big cheer to everyone playing their part), but the results can be even more impressive if you do it as part of your local community.

I've had the privilege over the last few years to meet a number of groups of people doing just that. Those of you who receive the RSPB's Nature's Home magazine may recognise some of these stories, but hopefully you will…

Sometimes on this blog I just like to let the pictures do most of the talking. Here's a portrait of my garden in the last few days:

Hopefully many of you are enjoying the feast of Painted Lady butterflies this year.

Gorse Shieldbugs in summer are coloured to match the drying seedheads of the plant, whereas those in spring are green to match the fresh foliage. See if you can find the two shieldbug nymphs in this…

The other day I could hear this 'tap tap' from the top of the garden. Then there'd be a pause, and a couple of minutes later 'tap tap tap'.

On investigating, I found this young Great Spotted Woodpecker, banging away at a bare, vertical branch on a dead apple tree I've left standing. You can tell it is this year's bird because it has red on its crown, which the adults don't have.

My first…

This week, this little unassuming fella helped me pass through a milestone.

It is Pellitory-of-the-Wall, a native plant that normally grows at the foot of walls where there seems to be not a crumb of soil to support it. But it popped up out of nowhere in my Bee Border, and became my 500th type of plant in my garden this year.

Other newbies for my list this year include Wild Parsnip, which has now flowered in the wildflower…

One of my projects this year in my mission to transform my garden into a wildlife haven was to create a new Bee Border. Well, it's meant more for any pollinator, but 'Bee Border' flows off the tongue, don't you think? Sometimes you hear of such things as a Nectar Bar, but that rather ignores the value of pollen, so maybe it should also be called a Pollen Pantry.

Anyway, back to the more prosaic spadework…