Where to find... wildlife in your garden

It’s springtime, and that means there’s a “safari in your back garden”, says Simon Barnes in The Sunday Times. Look out for peacock butterflies, usually the first of the year: they are the ones with “fake eyes” on their wings, for scaring away predators. Along with other butterflies, such as the small tortoiseshell, they lay eggs in nettle leaves, so if you’ve a nettle patch in your garden, leave it, if possible. You might also spot orange-tip, cabbage white and brimstone butterflies. You can learn how to tell them (and Britain’s 2,500 species of moth) apart on Butterfly-Conservation.org. Alternatively, brush up on the UK’s 24 species of bumblebee. Insects, woodlice and worms are often overlooked, yet Darwin wrote his “last great work” on earthworms and said he doubted any other animal had “played so important a part in the history of the world”. You can listen out for bird calls even when you are inside. Song thrushes will sing from rooftops and street lamps, as well as trees, and repeat a phrase a few times, before trying another. Pied wagtails, too, love rooftops and can be spotted performing “dainty dances” – the Italians call them ballerinas. The chiffchaff (pictured), meanwhile – usually the first migrant bird to arrive and sing – is found in mature trees, and sings its name: two syllables with an equal stress. Blackbirds, the “great virtuosos”, whistle more like humans, and will soon be joined in the skies by swallows and swifts – and, if you’re lucky, a kestrel.