Back gardens boast wildlife in suburban England

On a visit to Manchester, I could not help but notice how numerous and diverse was the wildlife in my son’s back garden in Sale, Altrincham.

The garden has matured over a century but is undeniably suburban, with streets, albeit leafy, on two sides. Yet, it has much more visible nature than my own garden edging on a wilderness with ancient trees, a stream and a field that borders an old estate where nature has been left to its own devices for 50 years.

On the parts of the lawn that has not yet been colonised by the encroaching trees and robust bushes, woodpigeons wobbled about, picking over the grass, blackbirds hopped, magpies strode about or sat in the foliage rattling like machine guns, lovable-looking grey squirrels bounced about or sat on their hind legs nibbling berries. And under the back porchlight at night, big-eared wood mice could be seen feasting on grains of fishy rice fallen from the giant paella pan in which my son had earlier cooked dinner for 18 of us, assembled for the annual family reunion.