Hilldene, Hillcrest
It was by pure chance that I captured this photograph of a Cardinal Woodpecker that was pecking against the trunk of a tree fern on the boundary of our property. I had just bought a new camera and was trying out its features in my backyard when I heard the sound of pecking. So it was that the Cardinal Woodpecker was the first photo taken on my new camera, which I regarded as a good omen!
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History and Development
We live in a freehold house in a housing estate in Hillcrest. The house was the second to last that was built on the estate, in about the year 2000. We bought the property in 2014, after it had been rented out for a number of years. The garden was completely overgrown, and so after completing extensive house renovations, we tackled the garden. It soon became evident that the garden had originally been professionally landscaped, largely with indigenous plants. We have retained the original character of the garden but have added some birdbaths, bird houses , as well as a bee hotel. As much as we would like to establish some bird feeding areas in the garden, we decided not to because of frequent visits by a troop of monkeys.
The Estate has a dam and a park with many trees, and these features have attracted many bird species to our area. When sitting on our deck, we can enjoy watching many of these birds in our backyard.
