Birds of a feather....

Throughout the year, we count ourselves fortunate in having a great variety of birds visiting our garden to feed, drink and bathe in the ponds. Regular species to be seen include the robin, blackbird, chaffinch, greenfinch, goldfinch, blue tit, coal tit, great tit, sparrow, starling, dunnock and wren.

Amongst our Summer visitors are the song thrush, mistle thrush, great-spotted woodpecker, long-tailed tit, linnet, spotted flycatcher, pied wagtail, grey wagtail, goldcrest, yellowhammer and treecreeper, whereas jackdaws, swallows and house martins come for the breeding season and build nests in the chimneys and rafters of the outhouse, and on the eaves of our house.

Each evening, we enjoy the friendly chatter of huge numbers of sparrows which fly in to roost in the ivies growing against the walls of the outhouse, where some also build their nests. Often, a pair of wrens nest there too, although last year, one pair built their nest in the honeysuckle climbing over a nearby arch.

The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth.

One is nearer God's heart in a garden,

Than anywhere else on earth.