The activity we'd love everyone to think of doing in their gardens this winter is to plant a tree. It's one of the best things anyone can ever do for nature.

Now I know that some of you will have as many trees as your garden can reasonably support. But if you do have space and your reason not for planting is either to do with the cost or you are worried that it sounds difficult, on both counts I'd love to show…

On Wednesday, I had what I think will probably be the last dragonfly of the year at my pond.

It was a male Common Darter, with his blood-red body and red flash near the tip of each wing (that marking is called a 'pterostigma' which, if my Latin is correct, just means wing mark!).

He was clearly feeling a little bit chilly - with only a low November sun to warm him, his engines weren't fired up for much in…

I've said it before and there's a good chance I'll say it again - gardens are AMAZING places for learning about wildlife...and life!

My latest discovery was today in a part of my garden that is due to eventually be a Bee Border. However, this year it has just had a covering of wood chippings from last winter's tree work. And it is through these, prompted by the recent rain, that a little green army has risen…

I always say that keeping Grey Squirrels off your bird food is a battle of wits, and a battle which you will sometimes lose. Over many years I have tried all sorts of ways of ensuring that I'm not just pouring an endless supply of expensive sunflower hearts and peanuts into squirrel bellies.

I often use 'guardian cages', the ones that slip over the top of a feeder, allowing birds in through the wire mesh gaps but…