A garden on the outskirts of Lewes, East Sussex, backs onto the remains of an old oak wood, where a nearly dead mystery tree has become a haven for birds, including a treecreeper that visits each morning.
The tree’s branches almost reach the bedroom window of the garden’s owner, Kate Bradbury, who moved from Brighton to make the woods her home. The garden is alive with wildlife: a badger that makes snuffle holes in the lawn, a family of tawny owls in the trees, and a cauldron of bats in the chimney.
A tree without leaves
The mystery tree is nearly dead, stressed from too many droughts, perhaps, or coming to a natural end. Some have suggested it’s a willow, but Kate suspects it’s a cultivated species she’s not familiar with. Without leaves, flowers or fruit, there’s not much to help with identification, though fresh growth in the canopy might make the job easier soon.
The exposed branches lay bare a world of birds that wouldn’t otherwise be seen – tits, robins, blackbirds, thrushes, woodpeckers and nuthatches.
The treecreeper’s morning visit
Kate’s favourite is the treecreeper, which stops by in the morning, moving around the tree as if climbing an imaginary curved staircase. It searches for insects and spiders, using its long bill to probe beneath the bark, its curved toes to cling to the trunk, and its stiff tail feathers for balance.
She spots its white bib first, then reaches for her binoculars to admire its intricate brown and gold plumage, which helps it blend in with the bark.
Winter movements and hopes for spring
Resident in Britain, treecreepers leave their breeding territories in autumn and move to a winter habitat in a nearby woodland or park, sometimes joining a roving group of tits. So the morning visitor may soon be gone, but Kate hopes it returns in spring to build a nest of spiders’ webs, grass, moss and feathers, and to scale the mystery tree once more.
Standing dead wood is a rare garden habitat, and Kate admits to worrying about winter storms and the tree’s proximity to her house. But dead wood is full of life, as the treecreeper and its friends attest. She is watering the roots, hoping a moist soil will yield more growth, and that there’s life in the old tree yet.
