I’m no great reader, and as a child the only book I remember reading and enjoying was Enid Blyton’s the Castle of Adventure, a story which surrounds 4 children who have an adventure in a castle during the school holidays.

Of the two boys in the story, Jack was interested in birds and Philip was very keen on animals. At the time I always remember favouring Philip, as for me cute furry animals were much more exciting than birds, and in the book Philip used to find them quite easily.

How wrong could I be. Whilst I still love cute furry animals, in real life they’re not really that visible. The last one I saw here was way before Xmas and it wasn’t even furry as it was a hedgehog. Birds on the other hand are everywhere. Look out of any window or the back door and you’re guaranteed to see lots of birds.

It’s not only the sight of them that’s fun, the sound is great too. The dawn chorus is quite spectacular, though I don’t hear it much these days. The evening chorus is pretty spectacular too and the bit in between isn’t bad either. My favourite singers are the thrush, blackbird, robin and wren.

I love working in the garden and listening to the birds singing, not much chance of that at the moment the ground has been frozen solid and is now pretty much water-logged, which is why I’m not writing about gardening. The birds however are still singing. I admire their optimism and resillience.

Our ex-neighbour who famously made the comment about rats was also heard to remark, “Oh there’s no sparrows Peter”, (in a Scottish accent). He obviously hasn’t seen our bird feeder recently, there are dozens of the little brown jobs, most of which are sparrows. They sit in the cottoneaster between courses and then swoop in for the next sitting. I could watch them for hours.

There’s nothing better than working in the garden on a Spring day and then soaking in a hot bath with the window open listening to the birds singing. For the day to be absolutely perfect, this would be followed by Peter making us a lovely tea and then a live soccer match on  TV where England beat the opposition 5 – 3. Ah bliss.