RENOWNED insect photographer Penny Metal is to visit an Exmoor village later this month to encourage residents to open their gardens to more wildlife.

The free talk on May 25 has been arranged by villager Ruth Walker, who runs the Sustainable Wootton Courtenay environmental group.

Ms Metal will be talking in Wootton Courtenay Village Hall about her adventures photographing and exploring the lives of insects in a small, 3.75-acre park near her home in Peckham, South London.

Ms Walker said: “Expecting to find a few, she in fact found 555 species.

“Her talk, brilliantly illustrated, will be about this adventure and the lives, birth, death, and survival of the creatures who became her close companions.”

BBC Springwatch contributor Ms Metal, who started as a graphic designer, said: “I enjoy talking. I especially enjoy giving talks about my love of insects.

“I use my photographs and stories to inspire people to look in the bushes to discover our tiny world.”

Ms Metal, who has lived in Peckham for more than 30 years, began photographing insects in 2011 during her work lunch breaks and has developed an ongoing survey of the invertebrates to be found in the small park.

In 2017, Ms Metal published her first book, ‘InsectInside: Life in the bushes of a small Peckham park’, comprising 236 pages featuring original photography and a comprehensive catalogue of all the insects she found in Peckham’s Warwick Gardens.

A retiring collection will be held after the talk to support Sustainable Wootton Courtenay.