Glorious May! A riot of colour and my favourite month for so many reasons.

Trees are clothed in fresh vivid green foliage. Cascades of frothy white and occasionally red hawthorn blossom plunge into an understorey of Queen Anne's lace; vibrant yellow meadow buttercups; green alkanet; lawn daisies and garlic mustard.

Horse chestnut candles are spectacular as is lilac, one of my best loves shrubs harking back to my childhood when I used to climb one in the garden and watch wildlife from there.

In fact all blossom and wild flowers are especially lush this year and Isabella plantation in Richmond Park is well worth a visit to admire the mixed azaleas. And now, just opening up is my pick of the bunch, namely oxeye daisies.

My garden nest box robins fledged early this month and are being fed around neighbouring gardens.

Birdsong is reaching a crescendo. The dawn chorus on bank holiday Monday was truly magical with songs of blackbird ( enjoying an excellent year) and robins dominant, the most melodious of all being a songthrush. Sadly however a call missed from that singalong at first light was the cuckoo.

Later that day a few swifts arrived overhead but their numbers are well below par.

In these days of dwindling butterfly species it is heartening to see one, the holly blue (pictured) a lover of our gardens very common this spring. The species is unique among British butterflies in that it chooses different foodplants on which to lay eggs. The spring brood lays on holly while the late summer generation choose ivy, pyracantha and similar plants.

So, glorious May, a month to savour.