Flappy days here again

Gardens and bird life go together - it's one of the immense pleasures of working or even sitting outside.

- With DIARMUID GAVIN

Take last week for instance, I was taking a break from potting on some houseplants outside when I spied a small bird in the garden pecking away at the seeds of a giant cardoon.

This plant, Cynara cardun-culus, is also known as the artichoke thistle. It reaches a height of 2.4 metres and has large silver leaves. The flower buds resemble artichokes and the purple thistle flowers that emerge attract bees in summer. If you don't cut it down, it remains statuesque in the garden and the seeds can be harvested by birds to eat over winter. The fluffy seeds are also used for lining their nests in spring.