When we moved into our house, nearly five years ago, the garden consisted of 70% concrete, 30% lawn, and there were just three shrubs. It isn't very large - more of an alley alongside the house with a large front garden that is exposed to the world. And apart from trying to win a place in the Guinness Book of Records for ' a garden with the most number of plants per square metre' (the consequence of obsessional plant buying), we have tried hard to make it wildlife friendly.

Well, the tiny pond is pretty but as I have lamented before, no frogs have been seen. So imagine my considerable excitement when, stepping onto the patio with a mug of tea, I caught sight of movement in the pond. What joy!

What horror! For instead of a nice hoppy frog or a little newt, I followed the bubbles trail in the water just in time to see a slithery tail emerge from the pond - a grass snake. (I shivered even as I typed that). That's certainly put paid to any weeding until I have serpent-proof gauntlets.

Well, Ok. We've had more success with the birds. Too much. Forget Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, we're having an Alfred Hitchcock Nightmare. The bird cake I made has proved so popular that it is like being on a production line. They are now getting through a coconut shell a day. And when the heatwave melted the lard of yesterday's feed and tipped the contents on the ground, Dog snuck in and ate the lot. So when I emerged onto the patio with a mug of tea, there was an eerie circle of waiting birds. A crow and two starlings muttered dire threats from the roof, the blackbird yelled abuse and two fat pigeons looked meaningfully at the newly washed car. I felt forced to abandon my glass of wine and rush indoors to whip up another batch of bird lardy cake. Gordon has it easy.

But ... double joy! The bird nesting box - a semi-detached residence made by my Man at the expense of a lot of skin, blood loss and blue-air turning, has finally got an occupant (or several). A blue tit family have moved in. And as long as I can keep up with bird cake demand, we might get to see the babies take flight.