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Garden tits and fat balls. No, I'm not about to start writing top shelf, plain brown envelope stuff, just about birds and bird feeders. I had the most horrible experience a couple of days ago, with a great tit and a fat ball. It had me in tears, so

is generally the case with autumn lawn care) looked considerably worse than it did before we started.But at least the disaster zone is now level and the words ' has potential' is uppermost in my mind. I just hope the local bird population is not now feeding

and particularly lovely feathered critters we try to provide a habitat for. I've heard the argument that it's not that sparrowhawk numbers are on the increase, but that they're simply following their food, so as the smaller birds become more numerous in gardens

they produce. You get huge height, fabulous, huge flowers and then a mathematically desirable fibbonacci series display of sunflower seeds that will now be enjoyed by wild birds for weeks to come. Many of the seeds have already been eaten by my daughter

. The remaining flattened daffodils on the drive are starting to right themselves. Sadly, my Iris reticulata have not fared so well and are still horizontal. The bird table, with its adornments of fat-ball dispensers, peanut feeders and household scraps hit

It's great. The canes on my autumn-fruiting rasperries are whipping around in the incredible wind we're having, but they're absolutely laden with fruit. It's amazing that the local bird population isn't all lined up underneath with their beaks open

by the tendency of these little birds to strip yellow flowers, such as crocus, but so what? And don't forget that the adults not only eat weed seeds, but they also feed their young with insects and their larvae. All-in-all, sparrows are a delight and a help

of the nearby roof - grace and elegance is something an owl obviously takes many weeks to learn! A fantastic sight and I feel really honoured that they have decided to breed here. Smaller birds have been here in abundance too - the house sparrow numbers seem