It's a Start

MONTH ZERO - February 2015

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One house sale and the purchase are complete, we have moved. Garden development has begun, but it's been a struggle. The move could have been smoother without the gas leak  and with better planning. We've owned the garden for a fortnight and moved in only a week ago. Since then we've both been ill with SCG (serious cough and gunk syndrome) which appears a bit like man-flu, but Ann has needed serious medication and even had time off school.

One big weed and one very desirable tree.
Ones for the chop - One gets companions.
Which?

Despite feeling grotty, we are very pleased with ourselves and very grateful. The cottage and outside are great. The garden is already really good for humans and wildlife with tremendous potential to make it even better. We have done just four things in terms of  moving the garden forward so far. We have set up a bird feeding station, moved a fence and little gate to a temporary position, purchased some native shrub/trees,  and set up a water-butt.

Setting up a bird cafe is particularly easy if the previous owners have left a lot of stuff behind. Even if you are starting from scratch it's pretty easy, very rewarding and cheaper than most pets.

Long tailed tits are a daily joy. Not a great photo I know but maybe I'll improve

The bird feeders have been up nearly a fortnight and we already have nearly as many different visitors as at Ladbroke. We have four different tits, plus some other common visitors. Particularly beautiful I think is a sleek male Blackap (sorry no photo, he's illusive - the link is in case you've never noticed one). To me he looks like a slender Great Tit with most of his markings rubbed out. I've not seen one in our own garden for several years.

Taking a fence. The purpose of this wire fence was I think to keep the dog away from the chickens. Since we have neither but we do have grand children, I move the fence and a little gate to be a temporary barrier to keep the GCs away from where the wildlife ponds will be.

Fish pond seems to be losing water, so I've turned off the pump to see if it's a leak

Water-butt 1. There will be more. The rain-diverter works but the butt needs to be nearly full to top up the fish pond. A lot of pond problems can be avoided by avoiding tap water.