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Certainly making a very comfy nest,lol.

It would have to be some size of a Robin Mum!! I think it must be a blackbird, but perhaps its a pidgeon!! lol

Whatever it is has it managed to get through the letterbox? tight squeeze, lol.

Have seen both robin and blackbird at this box probably they are going to share - that would be amazing, will keep you all posted - pardon the pun. lol xx think you might be right though Karen, marbles might be rolling just a little, think the postman thought so. lol. whichever bird it is tried to build for the last couple of years and I never allowed it to, must be getting soft in my old age, then again the postman doesn't think I am soft he has a longer walk to post at the back door. bless him. kind man to do as asked, must be a bird lover.

Nice postie!

just to let you know, it is a Robin and there are now eggs in the nest. nest almost up to the top of box - very snug, very warm.

wow! A Robin....poor thing went a bit ott on the nesting material!! Mind you, if you have the materials handy, why not build a bigger house!! You seen my new arch yet?...the metal one?

just seen the latest pictures - like the shape of the arch, it will look lovely when it is covered over with clematis, just been and order 4 new hardy geraniums for my borders from crocus. been digging some more grass out and transplanting cuttings etc. got some lupin seeds growing and some hollyhocks (double ones) delphinium seeds not been too good - someone told me the other day to treat them harshly and not give them too much water so will try another packet and see if I can get some to grow. Only 5 weak ones growing from last packet of seed. Need suggestions for trees not too tall about 5ft-6ft in height, thinking acers but not sure any ideas? Paul thinking fruit trees - patio types but I am not sure.

Yeah, well Acers would work and very beautiful but not if you have a lot of strong winds - they get scorched. Dwarf fruit trees would also be nice. If you only want about 6 feet you really want a shrub don't you, rather than a tree. you could go for a shrubby magnolia (beware, some make large trees), or shrubs such as Viburnum, some of which can make nice tree-shapes if pruned (I'm thinking of last year's chelsea winner - or was it the year before...not sure). Arbutus Unedo (Strawberry Tree) is a great evergreen small tree also, with lovely cinnamon coloured peeling bark, but it would eventually make 3-4 m but fairly slow growing and I don't know how it responds to pruning. I really love Rowans, they also make 4m eventually. You could go for a slow growing Eucalyptus Pauciflora which is really slow growing but evergreen, or I guess the obvious choice for a really small tree is a dwarf conifer. I think I'm on Paul's side on this one....really like dwarf fruit trees; blossom and fruit and you could also use them as a host for a clematis! If I have any more brainwaves I'll let you know!.... Mahonia? My Parrotia Persica is about 5' tall after four years, planted as a sapling. it's beautiful. Spreads out a lot and has fantastic autumn colour., now that's a good choice if you want deciduous!

Hi Karen, thought about shrubs, but want to plant my hellebores beneath the trees so thinking more of trees, got a magnolia close by the site, don't know which one it is, Paul bought it for me a long time ago, dark pink one, it is pretty similar to Susan but cannot remember if it had a label on it or not. Think will let Paul have his way and go for fruit trees (dwarf varieties of course)
want to be able to see beyond the trees and through them so they will have to be small varieties have room for four so will compromise and have fruit and acers, can you recommend which acer would do best in clay soil, we are pretty sheltered from the east winds because of the wood and the sheds shelter us from the north winds, would like something with colour so think that they would be great, but not sure which ones. Don't want anything that will get too spready or too tall. Get your thinking cap on. Hope scott is ok how did the eye laser treatment go? x

Thanks, eyes went good, so far, check up tomorrow in Glasgow so we won't know until then whether he will need reading specs, but he expects he will. amazing though, what they can do. He was -9 on one eye and -8.5 on the other and now he can see distance perfectly!! Wow! Re. the shrubs, I meant that you could prune them so that you had a raised crown and still plant underneath. Acers, mmm not sure about soil but here I have acer palmatum atropurpureum growing very well, and we have clay too. I have another new palmatum with bright pink leaves called 'phoenix'. That's quite bright if you want colour. I'll have a think about it though....

I've pm'd you about this, but I was just thinking and ...what about hammamelis, witch hazel? It would be lovely, it's the right size and you could grow a you know what in it in summer! It wouldn't spread out as much as an acer either!

Thought about the witch hazel but not so sure I am not that keen, I am still researching - Paul's plan looks more like the way to go - have been looking at Double U Cordons - will have to save some more of the pension though, they are a rare price, well the ones I have seen so far. Of course I now have to wait until later in the year to plant fruit trees or so I am told, the bare root ones should have been in before now. It isn't a problem though I just keep putting in a flower where there is a gap then if I fill in the gap where the tree should go I will have to dig some more grass up and make more room for the trees - tee hee!! the plans of men and mice eh!