Stay messy
There has been a lot of disruption around our garden. The neighbors recently cut down some enormous trees and the fence between us has collapsed after the ivy and other growth was cut from it leaving no place for our bird visitors to hide, roost or forage for food. As a result we have been left with just 2 woodpigeons and a pair of magpies. All other birdlife seems to have dissappeared, that is, until last saturday.
My garden has never been pristine and we don’t cut back and tidy up our plants before winter, so we were visited by a small flock of Goldfinches who were after the seeds left in what I think was marjoram or possibly lemon balm. They also feasted on the tall evening primrose stalks, again I hadn’t got around to tidying these up. They came for a few days till there were no seeds left. Little chirruping flashes of gold.
As a bonus we can now see much further from the bottom of the garden and my partner got this great shot of a deer that comes most mornings. It simply leaps the fence and hangs around for about an hour. We’ve also seen big flocks of redwings and fieldfares where as before we couldn’t see the sky, it was a bit like living at the edge of a forest.
So the message is, don’t rush to clear up dead stems, leaves etc, you never know who might visit you.