I creep quietly out of the front door because I don’t want to alert the earthworms that have their heads out of their holes between the slabs looking for leaves or fallen flowers to feed on. Close by in the flowerbed, although I am not quick enough to spot the worm, a leaf suddenly stands upright and the stem is pulled downwards. Recycling in action!

I check out the trunk of our garden trees and by the light of my torch notice several harvestmen still active in October. The large female walnut orb weaver spider Nuctenea umbratica that I have been watching for some weeks has emerged from her daytime refuge under some loose bark, and there is a much smaller one in a web close by. Then I spot a late female oak bush-cricket on the trunk – I wonder if she has any more eggs to lay in cracks in the bark?

I am searching for a particular slug that was first found living outdoors in Britain in 1981 and since then has spread explosively, transported via potted plants and garden refuse. Is the Iberian Threeband Slug Ambigolimax valentianus in our garden I wonder? Yes, I find one, slithering speedily up our house wall heading for our hanging basket. So…they have found us and moved in. I place it carefully on a leaf to get a photograph and then return it to its spot on the wall. They apparently lurk under flowerpots and stones in the daytime and come out at night, feeding mainly on algae. They may be here to stay if the winters remain mild.

Then I spot a small half-grown smooth newt following the base of a wall – a lovely find and a great way to end my torch-walk!