To give life to the wilderness that was the garden in the early days, we bought and put up several bird feeders. Almost immediately these attracted flocks of small birds. Chaffinches vied with great tits and blue tits to get a free meal. Gradually other species joined them and soon we had quite a variety to watch from the kitchen window. Bright yellow siskins are regular visitors with the great spotted woodpecker and both these add considerably to the colour of the scene. We have a regular resident in Philip the pheasant who, with his cohort of females, patrols the garden under the feeders waiting for the crumbs that the other birds let fall. To date forty seven different species of birds have been seen through this one window of the farmhouse, probably the most exciting of which was a female hen harrier hawking stealthily along about six feet above the rushes between here and the road. Among small visitors have been Tree Creeper, Reed Bunting and Long Tail Tits, Black caps, Bullfinches and Fly Catchers, Wheatear, Stonechat and Grey Wagtail. Winter visitors included Redwing, Mistle Thrushes and one day a Sparrow Hawk graced us with his presence in the tree outside the window. Barney the Owl lives quite happily alongside us in the granary store at the far side of the farmyard and we see him regularly fly out at dusk to begin his night’s work just as we are finishing ours.