Wildlife Welcome

Our U3A gardening group visited a wildlife-friendly garden, not far from the city-centre, by kind invitation of George Harris.

To the purist this garden might appear untidy, but that is precisely the point here; minimal interference gives rise to a rich diversity of food, refuge and nest sites for birds and insects; self-set plants are welcomed as they contribute to the variety of species. Indeed, even swifts are welcome to nest in the house wall below the guttering - and it was a delight to see them soaring over the roof.

The only major problems are the abundance of snails, so seedlings are protected with the plastic bottles, seen here around the bean poles. And George told us that this spring a heron consumed all the frogs in the pond so there was no spawn; this gave rise to several of us making comparisons of the success and failure of our own ponds, it seems palmate newts can be as devastating to frog and toad spawn as the birds.

This was an enlightening afternoon, but was also reassuring to those of us keeping a less-than-tidy garden that our support of wildlife is well worthwhile.