As some of you know, I have recently moved into a new little house.  With the new little house, comes a new little garden.  The garden is unfortunately rather bare with a sad looking lawn, a couple of  lopped tree trunks, some shrubs, a few fence panels and a washing line.  There is also a strange looking decking area with a picnic bench to liven things up.  To one side of the garden, the boundary is edged with laurel bushes… is that bushes or trees?  Not sure, but it makes a very dense bush.

 When I left my ex, I moved into a flat (apartment) as that was all I could afford.  I felt so closed in and really missed just being able to open the door and wander out.  I was so excited to have a garden again.  

In no time at all, I had spotted a squirrel running around and burying things in the lawn.  I started putting peanuts out to encourage him.  Having just moved in and all the expenses that brings, I didn’t have any spare cash to go and buy elaborate feeders from the garden center, so I improvised and dropped the peanuts down on the decking.  The squirrel soon found his new dinner table and would happily come to visit and then bury his newly found stash.  He would even run up the lopped tree trunks and sit on the top looking out across the neighbouring gardens.  I fell in love with that little chap… well, not so little actually.  He was probably one of the fattest squirrels I’ve ever seen!

Then came the fateful day that I didn’t replenish the dinner table.  The squirrel was obviously determined to get every last scrape of peanut that was left..  He was so determined in fact, that he gnawed a chunk of decking away in his efforts to get to the tiny pieces that had fallen between the planks of decking…   oh dear…    So the dinner table moved to a paving slab.

The birds soon found the peanuts and treats too.  I was so excited to see all the different types of birds visiting MY little garden.  There were Robins, Blackbirds, Blue Tits, Sparrows, Chaffinches to name a few.  Ok, the occasional Magpie and Wood pigeon stopped by too… but they’re not so pretty, so I ignore them.

Then Christmas arrived, and so did Tony.  Via Tony, Santa gave me a Squirrel feeder and a fancy bird feeder all the way from America WOO HOO!!!   My Mother had also given me a bird feeder which was waiting to be put up, so there was Tony, the day after Christmas in the freezing fog, putting up feeders around the garden for me.  We visited the local garden center to buy a variety of seeds and then filled each feeder very carefully.  We also bought a plastic dish so that the ground feeding birds could enjoy coming to my garden too.

In no time at all, the robin and blue tits and all the other birds had found their new source of food and were happily feeding away.  No sign of that fat, overfed, deck gnawing squirrel though.  I was so happy to be attracting the wildlife into my garden and even though it was bitterly cold, I could sit in the lounge with my nose pressed against the window and watch all these wonderful little creatures feeding in my garden.  Hey, I even got up around 2 am one night when next doors security light came on to see if a fox had triggered it.

So, a new variety of wildlife finally came to my garden.  What was it?  I hear you cry!  A fox?  No.  A badger?  No.  A Hedgehog? No.  What do I get?  I get the worlds largest ever rat, and not only do I get a rat, I get a rat that decides to die in my garden… the audacity of it!!!  Thank goodness Tony found it and not me… you’d have heard the scream all the way across the pond LOL!!  Have we given it a formal burial?  Have we heck… it’s in the dustbin (garbage) waiting to be collected tomorrow

I’ll let you know when Tubby the  squirrel returns.