by Dominick Murray

Created on: August 27, 2007

It's a jungle out there.

No really, it is! You just have to open that door to the garden, and then open those eyes. Pretty soon the door in your imagination opens too and you're away, off on some miniature safari.

Your backyard does not have to be some vast sprawling Serengeti. No doubt it would help if you had to accommodate vast herds of wildebeest or perhaps an elephant or two. Your very own backyard jungle is simply as big as it is. Even if you don't have a backyard, the same principles apply wherever you choose to cast your eye.

I find that when I open the door to my garden I am immediately immersed in a world of wild things. Surprisingly for someone who feels this way, my garden is a communal square of grass no greater than 40m x 70m (at this point I feel it is wise to mention I do not have a keen eye for accurate measurement; but the garden is certainly smaller than a football field, but larger than a shoe box). Within this square of grass there are 5 sheds, including one which has fallen apart so badly it looks as though it has recently been subject to somebody's vigorous bout of rage. The garden is by no means bare either; it is surrounded by tall wooden fencing which is the unwitting host to tree and shrub alike. The one tree (it's really an overgrown bush, but I'll not hurt its feelings) stands proudly outside my kitchen, a giant amongst the long blades of grass.

That's my garden. It is no Argentinean Pampas that much is true. But it's a jungle out there. How? The same way your garden is a jungle out there! How? OK, OK, let me explain. As I set foot outside my back door I can immediately hear the chirping of the birds, little chaffinches. They are sat in the tree, along the shrubs and on top of the sheds. It's spring and it's breeding season. The males are twittering as though their very lives depended upon it. They are in full competition, their peach little breasts puffed up and pumping out song (I'm guessing for a chaffinch that's pretty masculine). I can hear the conflict in their little voices rising and crashing, challenges being sent out on the airwaves, battles being won and lost in the beat of a heart. That is nature; there is no interference of man here. It's a jungle out there.

I move on in my safari, slowly stepping towards the limit of my land. One pavement slab, getting closer, two and three, that's it, one more step and I'm right out there, out in the jungle. I move out beside the tree, immediately setting the chaffinches off in flight,

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