SUMMER has officially started, in America. Here it does not begin for a few more weeks. No one seems to have told the weather. The last few days have been glorious, even if you include the thunder showers last weekend.

Neighbours are making silage as fast as they can and crops seem to be growing by the day.

The weeds certainly are.

This time of the year is bliss for the serious lawn manicurist.

I am a person who was once advised against buying a house in a particular village.

My family did not think my gardening skills were good enough. I am afraid that for me it is still largely a spectator sport.

Nature's influence on our gardens and fields also extends to our local wildlife.

Like many farms we have cats who live largely in the farm buildings. We also have some who come into the house.

The fact that we also keep farm animals, in our case pigs, means we have ready sources of food for vermin such as rats and mice.

Now, I am not going to pretend that we have no rats. I am sure we have and we do come across evidence of their activities from time to time.

We are not keen on laying down poison, so the cats are our first and last line of defence.

They do keep away the explosion of numbers of vermin that we would get if they were not there.

There is a substantial downside.

The other side of the cats' activities is not so acceptable. They wreak havoc with the nesting birds.

We have planted many trees and hedges close to the house and buildings and we have ivy growing over a good part of the house.

They make excellent sites for birds in which to nest. It would be nice to have swallows. They like to nest under eaves or in beams and cannot find corners in which to nest in modern farm buildings.

During the winter we make a point of feeding the birds and we like to think that we encourage birds, both close to the house and in the fields. This year we have applied for membership of a long-term scheme which has been devised by our political masters, to enable us to leave areas of the farm for birds to populate.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is going to carry out a survey of the species of bird already on the farm, and then the number and variety will be checked as we go along. The result will be of great interest.

I believe that modern farming methods do not necessarily lead to barren wastelands. If you look down on to areas of arable farming there are many trees and woods. There are grass fields and waterways. All these features encourage wildlife. England is not a dustbowl.

The garden and field birds are under pressure, not just from cats, but also from other birds. Magpies have become far more numerous over the last few years.

They can be trapped and humanely destroyed, but when a correspondent to Radio Four stated that they followed this practice, the reaction was almost universally hostile.

If we do not get magpies under better control the damage they do to other birds eggs and newly-hatched chicks will continue.

Once more man will have to interfere. Only man can make the difference.

For better or worse we control the destiny of the planet and the animals and plants on it. We shall have to learn to manage it rather better and do so soon.

Updated: 10:32 Tuesday, June 03, 2003