Diary Of A Wild Country Garden

One of the wonderful parts of having a garden is that even in the depths of winter you can look out the window and see nature. Even on a freezing cold and windy day like today when, even as a keen gardener, I know I will probably do more harm than good tramping across wet grass and muddy borders, I can look out and see our lovely garden and all the wildlife that visit. For me now the garden and the wildlife are intrinsically bound together. What happens with one affects the other so now I always try to keep both in mind with everything I do. I love birds and get so much pleasure from seeing all the different ones, hearing them singing away so beautifully, having them nest in our garden and all their lovely antics all year. I always want to help them through the often difficult winter months. So at this time of year I sort out all the bird feeders and go to the shops or the farmer's markets and stock up on the b...

I wonder how many of us see a birdbath as an essential item in the garden?  I know many of my neighbours do not have one yet and even though they feed the birds and some put up nest boxes and allow hedges to grow they do not see the need for a birdbath. However I feel that it is an essential item in any garden, be it a wild one or not.  When we got ours a few years ago I had no idea how much it would be used!  It took a few days but it wasn't long before we had a lot of inquisitive visitors and took them no time at all to be drinking and bathing :)  We have ours on our patio close to the house but they do not seem to mind this at all and it gives us a close view of them.   It is essential for birds to be able to drink and to be able to bathe and preen their feathers, their very lives depend upon it. So a clean safe source of water is of vital importance to them. All year round they use our birdbath. Just yesterday when I was talking to a friend on Fa...