Did you join in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch? Running since 1979 it’s the UK’s biggest garden bird survey we can all take part in to help understand how our feathered friends are faring. A perfect task for me, I thought, and settled down in our garden room with the timer set for an hour, a coffee by my side and pen & paper at the ready …
Ok, let’s start counting. Dear me, the number of pigeons! … one, two, three, four, five six, … Oh, there’s the one with the bad leg back again, I’ve already clocked him once. There’s a couple of doves looking so gentle and of course, the robin, blue tits, great tits, goldfinches, and blackbirds. There are so many birds which are black – crows, jackdaws, all looking very vicious, and then a flock of starlings – never just one or two. And, of course, the magpie(s) that I get fed up of having to salute! I sit quietly, and then my woodpecker appears – first in the bush at the bottom of the garden, then moving onto the bird feeder. And here comes the pheasant – the male in his resplendent colours with two females following close behind but blending into the dying grass.
My eyes start to wander into the field at the bottom of the garden – two horses covered in their blankets having a look around and then, hopefully, my muntjac will appear. My mind is full of all these wonderful animals and birds on my doorstep as I relax in my chair and amazingly the green woodpecker shows his face – pecking at the grassy mounds for the ants. There’s also that pesky squirrel back again to pick up the bits on the ground dropped by the birds.
The timer alarm goes and the hour is over. I was just beginning to close my eyes, having spent a wonderful hour in my own little world. Life is so busy that we all need time to switch off, and watching the comings and goings of birds in my own garden is my perfect way to unwind.
I look inside our garden room at the plants we have. There are tradescantias, which started off as a little stem given to me by a friend. I have passed on some plants but still have eight growing – all the leaves are different colours depending on how much light they have – and in the summer I grow some outside. I always have a poinsettia for Christmas. My Dad gave my Mum one every year and so I have to keep tradition going, often giving one to each of my two daughters. I also have to have an amaryllis, planting the bulb every year and measuring it as it grows. It always takes so long for the flower to open, but it’s well worth the wait.
My husband grows succulents; I wasn’t very keen at first but the different greens and textures of the leaves are quite fascinating and they are not hard to look after. If I get fed up of the green, I knit little flowers to brighten them up!!