Sometimes simple is best

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A long time ago I bought a bird bath for the garden. It was one of those resin ones, quite a pleasing sort of design (to me) made to look like Victorian cast iron, and it came from the RSPB shop so you would think it would be suitable for the birds! It had plenty of good reviews too, with many people saying their local birds loved it and used it all the time. Well I put mine on the lawn to make a focal point. It looked nice from the house but I never saw any birds using it apart from a wood pigeon occasionally. I thought maybe they didn’t like the position, so I tried it in different places, still didn’t see it used. I hoped that perhaps it was used when I wasn’t looking, like in the early mornings or something. Eventually the top cracked in a hard winter. It was still standing in the garden as it looks quite pretty but really it was a waste of time. Meanwhile I had acquired an old plastic dustbin lid from somewhere. It didn’t fit any of my bins so it was just hanging around in the garden waiting for me to think of a use for it. Two or three weeks ago we had a sudden hot spell and I wondered if the birds coming to my feeders were thirsty. I filled the bin lid with water – but I didn’t want to leave it on the ground because we have so many cats coming around. So I moved the old bird bath into position and balanced the bin lid on top of it. Bingo! It doesn’t look as pretty but now the birds use it all the time! I think small birds found it hard to stand on the curved, smooth sloping rim of the original bath, there was nothing to really hold onto. The bin lid has a definite edge they can easily perch on. Sometimes the simplest design is the best after all. All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2024.