Pip observes an oil beetle hitching a ride on a bee to the hive, where it thanks its hosts with eating up their nectar, bees eggs and pollen and then moves on for a future with a new oily mate.

This month we are focusing on snowdrops and which vegetables we would like to grow this year, even on the smallest plots.

Winter happiness for gardeners in the style of Thomas de Quincey and Pip our club's chairman.