How to make a garden a haven for birds

Don’t trim hedges or bushed just yet. Overgrown foliage provides protection and cover and is a source of berries, seeds and insects for birds, says Fiann Ó’Nualláin.

“ Blackbird from a willow sings: tiny beak with voice that rings: yellow bill, like coal his coat, merry music from his throat”.

THAT ninth century poem (by an anonymous Irish monk and scribbled in the margins of an illustrated manuscript) sums up the splendour of the blackbird and the joy of being in its presence.