Exciting news from the garden this morning. Despite freezing temperatures, a pair of blue tits has been busily inspecting a terracotta bird box, newly positioned on my back garden trellis. Attractively draped (I thought) with Clematis macropetala, cunningly positioned in full view of the dining room window, and close to all local amenities (bird table, hanging feeders and fresh water), this box is obviously an avian des res'.

Originally sited at the front of the house, the same box was used by blue tits the year before last.

However, it was unoccupied last year so we thought it was time for a move. If only moving one's own home and garden was as easy - I'd like my previous house in my present garden please!

As these blue tits have shown, bird boxes need to be sited early in the year (or preferably late in the previous year) to give the birds time to get used to them.

I try to do everything I can to encourage and protect our bird families, including regularly racing out into the garden shouting and waving my arms to scare away cats and passing crows, both of whom have designs of their own on our baby birds.

Jobs for this week...

Clear off weeds from herbaceous and shrub borders. A few minutes spent weeding now will save hours of work later on.

Give fruit trees and bushes a top-dressing of garden compost or well-rotted manure.

Start dahlia tubers into growth if you want to take cuttings from them to increase your stock. Begonia tubers can be put into trays of moist compost in a heated greenhouse.

For full story see the Leisure section of the February 16 edition of The Westmorland Gazette.