There is a bird bath in our garden frequented by fairywrens and red-browed finches. We put it under the flowering elm tree so the little birds would feel protected and hang out there for longer. It’s a few metres from our back door. Most days, when the sun hits that part of the floorboards, our cat Laurie can be found there, lazing in a sunbeam watching the birds through the glass. Sometimes, when they hop closer, she will sit up and make little chattering noises. It’s cat TV: enriching for her, safe for the oblivious birds.
I wish I could say we’d done it for the birds’ sake. But like an extraordinary number of decisions in the past 13 years, I did it for Laurie.
