One of the highlights of the summer has been watching all the wildlife in our garden, particularly the front garden since we’ve added the pond.

I’d read worrying reports of a lack of insects across the UK leading to chicks starving, but I was so relieved to see our blue tit and sparrow fledglings in the garden in June. In previous years, the blue tits nested in a disused pipe on the side of our house and invariably at least one chick would either shuffle or be pushed off the edge, last year we lost three chicks from either the fall or dehydration before we could return them to the nest, so the birdbox has been a huge success in that regard.

It made my day when I spotted a pair of goldfinches bathing in our pond because we’ve never been able to coax them into our garden before. While chatting with a neighbour, I also spotted a bullfinch in her garden and I’m wondering if I can lure it to our garden just a couple of houses further up.

Many of our most interesting wildlife finds have been in the front garden, my husband spotted a lacewing for the first time and I spent half an hour watching a red damselfly flit around the pond. My husband was beside himself with excitement when he found grasshoppers in our fairly wild front garden, giving him the perfect excuse not to mow the grass for a while longer.

The Kilmarnock Willow was covered in aphids in early summer providing a feast for ladybird larvae, and we also spotted a very hungry and very fat green caterpillar crawling around. None of these insects are particularly rare or unusual but it’s wonderful to see our garden becoming a thriving habitat in an urban environment.

I know one little garden is not enough to stop the rapid decline of so many species across the UK, and I feel so out of sync with my friends and neighbours who are replacing their lawns with artificial grass or paving over front gardens to create driveways, yet I have to try, and I’ll keep trying to create a little safe haven for everything that finds its way here (especially if it eat slugs!). Have a lovely week. X