Red kites, great spotted woodpeckers and pink-footed geese are only a few of the birds doing brilliantly in the British Isles right now. Mark Cocker celebrates their success stories and looks at what might be learnt from them

Find out which early species to watch for, how to make your patch more butterfly-friendly and where to record your sightings for science

Nadia Shaikh goes synaesthetic for the start of spring, almost tasting the orange tang of an early butterfly

Let’s take a closer look at these colourful, handsome birds

Handsome, chunky and often brightly marked, shieldbugs emerge in spring, quietly shaping the life of hedgerow and garden

Position logs randomly around garden borders rather than in neat piles to recreate the way they fall naturally from trees in the wild. You could artfully arrange them around spring-flowering plants or