Garden

When the pump / filter is in use in the pond, I have to pull it out a couple of times a week to clean the filter – we use small-mesh netting as a filter, somewhat rolled up and stuffed around the entry way to the pump; it collects the detritus in the water, and slowly clogs up, reducing flow to the waterfall (which is how I notice that it needs cleaning again!)
Pulling the pump & filter, in it’s one gallon bucket, out of the water can be quite a challenge, leaning out over the water and trying to lift the bucket with no handle (especially when there’s lots of dirt in the filter, making it very waterlogged and heavy). Once out, I unwrap the filter netting from the pump, hose it clean (into a big container that collects the dirty water, and then is dumped at the bottom of the garden).
Once clean, I wrap and stuff it back in the bucket around the pump, and lower it all back in to the water.

I do get a bit messy though!

We get lots of summer birds in Gloucester, including the American Robin – to us, this Robin is a Blackbird with a red breast. It’s Blackbird sized (much bigger than British Robins), with a very similar “scolding” call when disturbed.

One pair of Robins has been trying for a couple years now to make a nest under our deck-by-the-house. They try to build a nest of dry leaves on a ledge where one of the support posts meets the deck framing – trouble is, the ledge is only a couple inches deep, and their nest is much bigger … we end up with a pile of leaves on the ground under the deck (and presumably some very frustrated birds!)
Last year, Margaret downloaded a design for an American Robin nest and built it; we fitted it right next to the ledge, but the birds continued to try and build on the ledge, ignoring the nest!

This year, they’re back again, collecting & piling dead leaves which fall to the ground. Again, we felt sorry for them, so this year I cut and screwed an “extension” ledge around the original, to give them a depth of 6″ or so. Within a couple of hours, they adopted their new home, and today seem to be doing well with nest construction:

In the picture, you can see the new piece of wood; it’s hard to see just how narrow the original piece was, but it was not wide enough for their nest – which only just fits on this new ledge!

Hopefully, they will be successful with raising a family of little Robins, and maybe there will be more pictures later in the year (see previous pictures of American Robins nesting outside Pat & Dave’s house).

(and yes, it’s a nod to that old British TV show)

As I mentioned recently in a comment, not all the trees round here have leaves yet – this is a view of trees at the back of our garden: