My car is parked on the drive near to a very big old lime tree. It is always prone to being "decorated", but once those birds really start nesting in earnest... The collared doves are the worst. (Autumn's interesting, when the birds have been on the elderberries and blackberries!)Late spring/summer is also a pain when the honeydew from the tree and its insect inhabitants (greenfly, isn't it?) starts dropping on everything in sight and the muck welds itself onto the car. There used to be another tree between the lime and my property. It had to be felled, as it was unsafe and bits kept falling off it (it was a Tree of Heaven), but my neighbours replaced it with a horse chestnut tree that their son had grown from a seed. Now just imagine in a few years when that beggar's grown, what state the roof of my car will be in at conker time!

Still, in the garden the unwanted seedlings are growing furiously, the blue tits are investigating the nest box, the sparrows have been observed picking up nesting material on the yard so that they can start and refill my house roof, and my dog has had its first haircut of the year. Also, I didn't need to put on a coat to go across the road to the pub last night. Yep, spring must be around somewhere.

Andrea