Welcome back my friends to the Epic Gardening Podcast. This week we have Dr. Ross Cameron,

the research director within the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University

of Sheffield. I'm very excited to have him on. He's the co-author of Environmental

Horticulture of the Science and Management of Green Landscapes. He wrote the health and

well-being chapter in science and the garden. Along with that is also a professional

horticulturist and advisor to the RHS or the Royal Horticultural Society, which is

something that sounds very fancy. Ross, sounds very fancy. I wish I was in it.

You know, maybe one day I'll join, but I'm excited to have you on the show.

Yeah, it's great to be here. It's great to be here. So it's all about gardening. It's

all about fun. Nevermind, I'll have titles. That's what we're all here for. Of course, of course.

And so today we're talking about, you know, birds by the backdoor. This is something that

we actually recently had Dr. Kaley Swifton, who is quite experienced in poor bits. So,

crows and such. And I've got really into both studying the birds in the backyard,

but specifically crows I've become, you know, really in love with. But, you know, just

generally speaking, in your experience, like, what role do they play in the garden?

Yeah, well, I think they're the element of life, aren't they? They're obvious

physical movement in the garden and they often attract their attention first. And I think

having a bird table and feeders and things like that just brings the whole place to life.

I mean, I see it as a very much like a kind of soap opera. You kind of watch the different

individuals in the garden, the different roles they play. So, I see it as a little bit of

analogy to our life, but in a much more informal and fun way. Of course, for them, it's

serious business. They're fighting to get food all the time. I know. For us, it's like, oh,

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