Introduction

We have a lovely, wild, unkempt garden in the north-east of Hampshire. Around the garden we have:

• a vegetable patch,
  
• a pond in which I have just replaced the liner,
  
• a grass area for trampoline and games (although grass is usually too long, and ground to bumpy, for ball games),
  
• a twin line of trees (mostly white poplars, some willow and hazel interspersed with a few small top fruit),
  
• a sloping grass area,
  
• a patch we are digging out with the intention of hard landscaping into something special,
  
• a greenhouse with adjacent autumn raspberries,
  
• an ageing fruit cage,
  
• and a grass area at the rear of the house, with hammock.
  

Our bungalow is in the centre of this lot.

We feed the birds with seed and nut feeders, a bird table, and plants such as firethorn for berries. We leave seedheads such as evening primrose and teasel over winter for the goldfinches. However I have had to remove much of the ivy from the house, despite its food and nesting site value, because it made the route into our attic too easy for the rats (who now seem to be stranded inside the house).

I intend to use this blog to record details of what we do for wildlife as well as the wildlife we see in the garden.