Crash!
To the right of our garden by the privet hedge there grew a spindly staghorn sumac tree. I think that it had self-seeded there. A strange tree really with large pinnately compound leaves that turned bright red or orange in the autumn. And in the summer it produced big furry dark red seed pods - the texture of which might remind anyone of stags' antlers. Anyway, I digress. About eight years ago this little tree effectively died . No buds, no new leaves. I decided to use it as a bird feeding station on which we could hang seed or suet ball containers. A few of the outermost branches were sawn off. Then one day, I had the bright idea of painting the dead tree white with some leftover masonry paint. Forty minutes later it was done. Over the next six years I repainted the tree twice. It was an odd sight really but it seemed popular with various bird species as they came to feast on the bird food that was hanging there like regulars at a branch (!) of McDonalds. Then o...