Pigeon Patio

In the past few years the soil underneath our twisted hazel tree has been completely flattened by the relentless trampling of hordes of pigeons, who scavenge for any titbits that may have dropped when the smaller birds help themselves to seeds and nuts from the feeders. At this time of year the bed used to look so pretty, with clumps of snowdrops, hellebores and aconites delighting the eye. All that was left this year was flattened bare soil, which looked quite sad, so I decided to buy some stepping stones to create a firm floor for the pigeons to walk on, and then put small plants between them. 

Our lovely gardener, Steve, arrived this morning and dug over the flattened earth, ready to place the stepping stones. Within a minute or so, a robin had hopped down to check out the availability of worms, followed by a couple of dunnocks. Steve walked back and forth collecting the stones from where they’d been left by the back gate, laid them on the earth, then dug up some violets, primroses and cyclamen plants from other parts of the garden and transplanted them in between the stones. (Later on I’ll plant snowdrops in the green and then some aconite bulbs in the autumn and hopefully the bed will establish itself and look much prettier.) Steve has pushed lots of thin stakes around the bed in an attempt to deter the pigeons from trampling on the flowers. 

After he’d gone, it was really funny to see the pigeons arrive and check out this strange new layout. At first they lined up on the path beside the bed, and cocked their heads and seemed to decide they couldn’t get access any more. Then one brave soul hopped on to a stone, and soon they’d all followed suit and were milling about as usual. I just hope that the little stakes will do their job and the flowers will survive.

Smithers did make me laugh when he decided the new bed should be called a "pigeon patio"!