Nesting controls numbers

THE soil in my garden was saturated for most of the winter but it is just beginning to dry out enough to allow me to prepare the beds to receive the vegetable seedlings sprouting in the greenhouse.

I have quite a large garden and I had some heavy bags of compost in the back of my jeep so yesterday I drove down to the vegetable plots. I parked and unloaded and, about an hour later, I was taking a break from the work when I heard an odd noise.

The dog, who is my garden assistant, heard it too and cocked his head on one side in a puzzled manner. It was a persistent, rapid tapping noise, like a miniature machine gun. It took me a few minutes to track down the source. A blue tit perched on the wing mirror of the jeep and frenziedly pecking at the glass.