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Hi folks. I decided today to make a start towards replacing the crumbling wall surrounding a part of our garden. I thought it would maybe be fun to do a thread to document this, so here we are. I have no idea how long this going to take me or how the finished wall is going to look, as is normally my way, I'll sort of work it out as I go along. I suspect I'll often be sidetracked along the way, as has already happened today. I've been collecting stones for a while now and I don't intend to replace the wall with bricks. Instead I'm going to use stones which are not all of the same type of stone, but that's what I have, so that's what I'll use. The first few photos show the condition the current wall. The first photo is the end of the wall nearest my woodshed and as you can see, it's not looking great.
The wall is only a small one but has been here for many years and is now crumbling badly and really insecure and wobbly at bits. This photo shows the wall behind some of the stones I've collected.
A view of the wall with the large stones moved away from it.
And a more detailed view of the extent of the damage.
As we all love the birds, I'll see if I can photograph some of them along the way, like these Starlings on my neighbour's TV aerial.
I also decided to stuff some straw into a suet ball feeder and hang it in the holly bush in case the birds might like to use some of it as nesting material.
I've decided that probably the best way to go about this is to lay out all the stones that I have and hopefully this should maybe help me to select the stones easier as the build gets under way. The next photo is of the stones that were piled along the edge of the old wall. I've tried to lay them out in a sort of organised way, (to me anyway).
At around this point, Mrs A called down to see if I fancied going to the garden centre with her for a cup of tea. This sounded great to me, so off we went. As is the way of things, we ended up having a light lunch and returned with a new adapter for the garden hose, a 12.5kg bag of peanuts and two new peanut feeders, one of which is shown here. We liked the look of these feeders because the wire mesh goes all the way around the bottom an back up the other side which should help to prevent the peanuts at the bottom from becoming damp, although the Sparrows around here take great pride in preventing this from happening by scoffing as many peanuts as they can, as often as they can.!!
When I got back down the garden to start again, I found that the supervisor had arrived and was carrying out a detailed assessment of the site. This is Tee Tee, one of my three cats. She likes to ‘help’.!!
Assessing and helping can be very tiring however, so it wasn't long before mental and physical exhaustion got the better of her.!!
Mrs A called down the garden again, reminding me that she'd promised the elderly lady next door that I'd dig out a few very small trees that had taken root close to her front door. Also I was to dig out some Peony Roses from the same area as well. I actually broke the first garden fork that I used, but think I may be able to repair it with a small exhaust clamp. I got another fork from the shed, which we actually found lying in the middle of the road when we were out in the car one day.!!(the fork, not the shed).!! I've actually found loads of things lying in the road now that I come to think about It.!! The list includes a pair of safety goggles, one of those hard hats with the ear protectors fitted to it, a small digital camera, three battery powered inspection lamps (all at different times and in different locations) and my most recent find was one of those clamp things that mountaineers use to help them when they're climbing up a rope,.. you know the type of thing? You attach a bit of rope with a loop on it to put your foot in, and as you take the weight off your foot , the clamp thing is slid up the rope and then grips the rope again as you put your weight back on the loop.!! Quite ingenious actually... In actual fact, it’s in the drawer downstairs, I’ll go get it and take a photo of it to show you… back in a ‘tic.......... Here it is..... Thanks for waiting.!!
Never be afraid to stop and pick things up (safely of course), you never know what you'll find. I actually doubled back to get the safety goggles.!! Anyway... I dug up the small trees and Peony Roses but I hate to see things go to waste, especially as they're living things, so the small trees are now planted in my garden and Mrs A found a place for the Peony Roses. I've no idea what kind of trees they are but here's a photo of one of them in it's new home, half way down the garden. I put it in the middle of some other plants that Mrs A has got (with her permission of course).
I am in all honesty trying to get back to the wall but the way things went today I was all over the place. Mrs A once again called me to see if I wanted to see a Bee that was on the ground at the front of the house. This is a photo I took before we moved it to a safer location in the garden amongst the plants. It was moving very slowly on the ground.
Whilst I was down on the ground I took a few snaps of a couple of the plants that are out at the front of the house. The first one as I'm sure you'll know is a Heather but I've no idea what the second one is. I'm not great when it comes to idenyifying plants.
Another bit of crumbling wall at the front of the house. I'll have to sort this at some point too.!!
On the way back round to get on with sorting out the stones I thought I take a few pics to show you some other stuff. It may surprise you, but I actually found these tubs (I have two of them) in the field at the back of my house. They were much taller than they are now and someone had made then into garden seats, obviously didn't want them any more and threw them into the field. There is a pile of wood in the corner of the field that the farmer doesn't bother about, so long as it's only wood or garden waste. Every now and then he sets fire to it. It’s really handy actually as all of our trimmings and stuff can go out there without the need for us to bag them up and take them to the council's waste centre. I cut the top off the seats, painted them up, and Mrs A planted some sort of butterfly friendly plants into them.
I also found this small tree lying in the field, minus a pot. I rescued this as well and put it in a pot over the winter. I planted it today in another bit of the garden but have really no idea what it is.
A view looking down the garden from the other side of the fence from the barrel planter. I built the wee hand cart thing myself out of some wood that I had lying around. Mrs A puts flowers in it in the summer and it looks really nice. The wheels were bit of a nightmare to build and I tried to persuade Mrs A that a broken cart with only one wheel would be nice, but she was having none of it. I had to build the second wheel.!! It's full mostly of the soil you get free from the council recycling centre once a year, mixed with some garden centre compost as well. The box behind the cart to the left which looks like an oversized Rabbit Hutch is Harry's house(one of my other cat's). I actually built it for Tee Tee when we moved here but she looked upon it with spectacular indifference. When Harry adopted us he moved in without a second thought. He has a comfy bed in the top half where it is nice and dry.
Heading back to continue with the wall, I took a photo of some House Sparrows leaving the tree. I'm not sure what type of tree it is but I think it may be a type of ornamental pear willow....I think. It does bear very small, hard, pear shaped fruits every year.
It's a great tree for the birds. It's close to the feeding area and the Starling and Sparrows love it. Another photo of House Sparrow’s in the tree, and arriving at the tree.
A quick stop over for a refreshing drink of Lager Shandy.
An artistic look through the stones.
Since I'm at the bottom of the garden I'd be just as well to show you a view out over the fields at the back. The farmer had been spreading....stuff...on the field the other day but you tend to get used to it...if you know what I mean.!! He puts cattle in here later on in the year so maybe expect a post about cows at some point.
This is my chimney thing that we sit round on the summer nights, and as you can see, it hasn't has the best of winters this year. Another job to add to the list.
I have plans to use this barrel as a Water Butt, but I need to put guttering up on the shed at some time and use the run off to fill the Butt. Yet another one for the ever lengthening list of things to be done.
Almost back to the stones again, but first a quick photo of one of those insect home things that we have in our Holly Bush.
I do have another pile of stones which I now got round to bringing out and organising, but before I show you a photo of all the stones together, I thought I'd introduce you to Harry. Some of you may remember him from an earlier thread, but if you missed that, here he is. He's quite old we think, and he's also a bit deaf, especially with lower frequencies. He has only recently taken to coming into the house for a wee while in the evening, before wanting back out again. He lives outside most of the time. Tee Tee hates Harry and they constantly go through a ridiculous charade where Tee Tee does what we call 'The Slow Walk'. She postures herself and passes by Harry's box with exaggerated slowness, looking at absolutely everything around her..Except Harry.!! He flattens himself to the base of his box during this and watches her intently. Totally ridiculous behaviour from both of them. Occasionally though, it does come to blows, but happily not as often as it used to. This is Harry in the bottom part of his box, pretending he doesn't know that Tee Tee is watching him from further down the garden.
This is Tee Tee, watching Harry from further down the garden, no doubt planning a 'Slow Walk' up past him.(note the condition of the wall behind her).
A pair of Goldfinch paid a brief visit, this being one of them.
And finally, these are all the stones that I have for the wall.
I think there are enough stones here to do the job and if I need smaller ones I can maybe use the sledge hammer to break up some of the more awkward shaped ones. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to do this in small steps (mixing the cement by hand) or if I'll maybe get hold of a small cement mixer and try to do it in one go if I can get a good day for it. It’s taken ages to put this post together and I do realise that it did veer off course at bits, but I hope you’ve enjoyed it and I’ll update this maybe next weekend if any further progress is made.
Paul
My bird photos HERE
Thanks Catlady. I'm glad you enjoyed.The female Sparrow was back in the box today and the brave Mr S was seen taking nesting materials in, all in the same compartment so it's still looking good.
Hi folks. I have a few more photos from the weekend left to post so I thought that I'd put them on tonight and hopefully this will give me a clean start for next weekend if I make any more progress. Before I move onto that though, I have a House Sparrow update. The both of them were spotted going in and out of the nest box (same compartment) so we went and we sat in the Greenhouse and watched for a while. Mrs S then landed on the guttering and was soon joined (literally) by Mr S….three times.!! He’s a hero.!! He tried for a fourth time and only narrowly avoided being pecked by Mrs S who had now become fed up with the whole thing. They were last seen going under the roof tiles above the nest box where I presume they maybe roost for the night. All in all very exciting but unfortunately the camera was in the house so no photos of the ‘deed’.!! Moving back towards the subject of the wall, I mentioned that I had another find on the road. I was in the car with a friend when I spotted a Hard Hat at the edge of a ditch by the side of the road. I stopped the car and my friend very kindly got out, emptied the water out of it and brought it safely back to the car. I did ask him if he would like to keep it but he very graciously declined so I am now the proud owner of this rather lovely Hard Hat.
The stuff sticking to the side of the Hard Hat is grass and not human hair as it appears to be, so you needn't worry too much. It has since had a good old scrubbing and is now in the shed beside the blue one with the attached ear defenders that I found last year. I suppose I can now kit myself out with a Hard Hat and my tool belt, and quite easily go to any fancy dress parties dressed as the construction worker out of ‘The Village People’.!! Moving onto the wall again, this next picture shows the bricks along the front of the wall which I still have no idea what I’m going to do with as I haven’t got any stones which are small enough or even enough to replace these brick with. The thinking cap is still on in regards to this.
The next photo shows the area just to the left of this and next to the fence. The stump that you see in the photo was a large conifer type tree that stood around 35 feet high and was seriously swaying around in any strong winds. We felt that this was a danger to the telephone lines and along with the other trees up this side of the garden, they were leaving a good area of the garden in constant shade. The decision was taken to take the tops off most of the trees and this particular tree was to be taken down altogether. A chainsaw was purchased and a good set of Kevlar over trousers were acquired. One of the trees was a large broadleaf type thing which is actually in my neighbours garden but he was delighted that I was wanting to trim it down a bit because he said the last time he had this done it cost him a small fortune. We cut a large tree down which was far too close to the house and trimmed the rest of them on our way down to the conifer in question. The way we took the trees down was to climb up with the chainsaw and using a few extra volunteers, we tied a rope to various large branches and as the saw went through the wood, the volunteers pulled the branches safely away from me and the chainsaw. Anyway, the stump in the photo was the last tree to be done but upon climbing up I found that a pair of Collared Doves had a nest in the top of the tree so I postponed the felling of the tree until the winter. Around two weeks before I had planned to take it down, Mother Nature took it in hand and during a particularly ferocious wind one morning we came home from work to find the tree had come down itself.!! In all honesty I couldn’t have wished for it to fall in a better place as it missed everything of importance and only lifted part of the fence with the roots as it fell. It was quickly taken back with the chainsaw and the fence was repaired. This may actually help explain the amount of wood that is currently in the Woodshed although a good portion of it has already been used. Getting back to the photo, the stump is still in the position that it fell in with only some of the roots taken out. I got a few packets of Clover seeds and planted lots of Clover in around the stump and there are also loads of Buttercups here as well. The Bees and other insects like this area. There is also a small Blackberry plant in the back there and two Raspberry Plants (although the Raspberries aren’t looking like they’ve survived). I’ve also put a type of Cotoneaster in here as well. There’s a great patch of Stinging Nettles that also come up here……amongst quite a few other things that I don’t know what they are. There is a Witch Hazel in front of the stump as well. We generally try to leave this side of the garden to do its own thing, and the Blackbirds love foraging around in here.
Speaking of Blackbirds, a few were in the garden on Saturday.
Mr Blackbird..
And also Mrs Blackbird.
A colourful male Chaffinch..
And a lovely female House Sparrow.
By the time I got to the wall on Saturday I only really got the chance to build a small section of it. The stone going in here was ridiculously heavy and I struggled to actually lift it at all.!! A small lever was of great assistance in the building of this particular part.
This is the wall on Sunday morning with the tarpaulin over it in case of rain or frost.
And with the tarpaulin removed.
Sunday was a great day as I got a decent amount done and also a few welcome visitors came through the garden, this Greenfinch being particularly welcome as I’ve seen very few of them this winter.
And a Magpie was also spotted a few gardens along.
A view of part of the production line, complete with all new rubble bins.!! The plant in the pot at the back is a Buddleia, one of two that we got last year.
I always scatter tasty treats around for the birds, and the birds seem to like this.!!
This gorgeous Dunnock had been singing his heart out in the next garden, he then came over and perched really close to me for just enough time to take his photo.
The next photo is really for Higgy and Noisette because it's probably destroying them not knowing if I'm behaving myself.!! Not a million percent but pretty close.
Yet another section in place, and the wall moves further along.!!
A quick stand back to see the progress so far, and before anyone says anything....I know that the fence needs to be painted.!!
I don’t think that there’s any specific way to do this so it’s just a case of trial and error. I try to roughly pick out the stones for a section and then make up a mix of mortar.
I then start off with what I think will be a good stone to begin with. I've already chosen the top stone and measured it so that I know roughly where to place the stone that you see here in the photo.
And so the process continues...
A few more shots of the birds for good measure. This is Pastry Rook 2…..eating Pastry. Pastry Rook 1 was the first Rook we’ve seen who’s learned to eat the pastry this way. They’ve only been doing this for the past few weeks after months of this feeder being out there. Pastry Rook 1 has a bigger lower beak so that’s how I know that this is Pastry Rook 2, unless they’ve all learned about this….!! We’ve also seen a few Jackdaws watching closely but have as yet to see them at this feeder.
And speaking of Jackdaws....
Another lovely male House Sparrow...
Mostly Sparrows, strangely almost all males with only one female that I can see in this photo.!!
Another welcome guest who I've also seen very little of this winter, a lovely male Siskin...
And his exceptionally pretty wife.
Just one more of the male Siskin.
Finally we have a photo of the wall as it is now.!!
Well, at least we're back on topic again but I'm now seriously lacking in stones that are the correct width for the top of the wall. I've noticed today though a few which may just fit the bill that are currently in the garden and covered in moss. The chances are that I'm going to take these out of the garden for use in the wall and replace them with a few of the stones that I have but are not suitable. We'll see what happens come the weekend again. If you're still with me on this, well done because I've once again created another long post so thank you for reading it and I do hope that you've enjoyed it so far.
Hello Paul,
again I enjoyed your post very much. It is also a good opportunity to learn a bit (you can never now when you might need this knowledge). And thank you for the post with Mr and Mrs Sparrow. I especially liked the episode with Mrs Sparrow checking for snakes and ghosts.
See you soon here.
Yours, Bente
Thanks Bente for your vey kind comments. Mrs A tells me that she seen a Sparrow coming out of one of the other compartments yesterday bit she doesn't know if it was a different bird from the other two. I'll try to keep an eye on things and report on any progress.
what a wonderful update Paul, I enjoyed reading all the latest events, including the amorous sparrows and the lucky find of the white hard hat ! and the work on the wall too; the garden is looking amazing and the lopping of the tree will help too, sounds as if you did things the professional way with ropes tied and helpers to guide the off-cuts in the right direction, just make sure you climb the tree first and then hoist the chainsaw up afterwards - in the switched off mode of course LOL ! Photos are beautiful of the birds, thanks again for the progress update, don't know how you had the energy left to post it up lol
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Regards, Hazel
Thanks Hazy. When we took down the tree that was too close to the house I left around two foot of the stump in place and cut a deep bowl into it with the chainsaw. I also drilled some drainage holes and Mrs A has planted some type of plant in it which should hopefully spread out a bit and become quite a nice feature. When I left the house this morning there was a House Sparrow looking out from the box at the opposite side from the ones I think are nesting at the other end. Nothing is certain yet but I'm wondering if marking the box has maybe made a difference, as I said before, only time will tell.!!
Fingers crossed the Spadgers are nesting :) your garden is really looking good Paul with lots of wonderful features and the stump idea is brilliant; Mike and I are hoping to start creating a small "stumpery" shortly once we get our brains into gear as to exactly where and how we want it, I plan to put lots of nice ferns in there along with bulbs, wildflowers that don't mind a bit of shade and I also want to include some sort of water reservoir and drill a bowl shape into one of the oak log slices which I can fill with bird seed or pastry ! so many ideas, just need the energy now lol
Hi Hazy. After seeing lots of photos of your garden I'm quite certain that whatever you do it will be beautiful and also for the benefit of the wildlife there. I had showed Mrs A your thread when you got the new Rowan Trees and she had asked me to say to you that she thinks your garden is stunning. Being male, this is me only now remembering to pass the message along to you.!!
LOL Paul, thank you both so much for those kind comments, like yourselves, we have put a lot of effort into creating different features and areas in the garden to attract wildlife and focal points for ourselves and although hard work at times it really does pay off in the end when you see the beauty around you and the variety of animals that visit the garden. We're hoping for another nice summer so we can get the garden chairs out for a bit of relaxation after the projects are finished lol maybe I should add "are garden projects ever finished" ? as there is always something else to think about or to add lol !!!
Wonderful update PHA (with fancy new headgear!). Great news of the potential nesting spadgers, lovely little birds, wouldn't be without mine & really looking forward to littleuns! Hadrian's Wall looking so professional & I like BW's idea of making your own stones, remembering in the dim & distant past getting the moulds & making those openwork screen slabs, good fun, was all the craze in mid 60's (gives age away lol!) A question for Mrs A .. what is going to grow through those mini lacy top tables? Or are they there for the Fairies at the bottom of your garden to use for their picnic? Must go now, am keeping an eye on Lady at Loch of the Lowes as it seems first egg is imminent! Keep up the good work & look forward to further news!!
PS.. Don't forget cam next time you check on spadgers!!!
2013 photos & vids here
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