We’re very fortunate to have a flat in London that comes with a garden. We feel even luckier to have a garden that has a large park behind it, so we are surrounded by nature.

My garden has become my sanctuary. I love to sit and let the stress of London float away as I look at the plants, the open sky and the beautiful, mature trees in the park behind us. It is so peaceful, I can often forget that I live in one of the busiest cities in the world.

We’ve recently done some work on the main border, planting trees, shrubs, herbs and flowers that will all attract wildlife. I have a number of bird feeders to encourage different types of birds and they have been really successful. We have had so many birds visiting to feed, including a beautiful woodpecker and, once, even a parakeet.

I bought a bird bath some months ago and it had largely gone unused by the birds, although a rather fat pigeon once attempted to have a wash in it and almost toppled it over in the process!

However, as part of the work on the border, we moved the bird bath to a spot just near a new crab apple blossom tree that we have planted. This seems to have worked wonders and birds are now regularly stopping by for a drink and a wash.

Today, however, we had the most extraordinary sight. A whole flock of starlings descended on the garden with their young. It was like something from the Hitchcock movie, The Birds. I have never seen so many birds in our garden at once.

They congregated around the feeders for quite some time, trying the various nuts and suet I placed in them. Then, they all decided it was time for a bath. They went wild! It was like they hadn’t had chance to bathe in quite some time. I managed to get a few shots of them enjoying this garden feature.

Unfortunately, I did not manage to capture the scale of the visit – there were birds all over the garden and I decided to focus on the bath. I hope you will enjoy the images nonetheless.

There’s something about supporting nature that gives me a very warm glow inside. I know that birds’ habitat, particularly in cities, is declining at an alarming rate. Even if it’s a very small contribution, I hope that I am doing something to provide a space for them to thrive.