Heart soaring

How birds made Valerie’s new house a home.

Every now and then we get feedback on a product. We’re happy to say it’s nearly always positive. Occasionally it’s negative and we’ll work to make it right. And sometimes… sometimes it’s just absolutely heartwarming.

Lauren wrote in with this story of her grandmother. With her permission we’re now sharing it with you.

Dear Topflite,

My grandmother lived in a big house in Howick for over 40 years. In this time she committed a huge amount to her garden. There was the big oak tree, the wisteria archways, all manner of plants and trees, all frequented by waxeyes, tuis and one blackbird in particular that would come inside for sultanas.

As she got older Grandma had to downsize to a more manageable two-bedroom unit close by. Here the small section of land was initially more functional than anything else. There was a hedge, some bark, a couple of trees and that’s about it.

Since then she’s been slowly building up the garden. But the birds haven’t followed her in the move. She’s getting on in her years, and is not as active she was, so watching for birds from her lounge is a treasured pastime. We needed to find a way to get these birds back.

Grandma won’t let me spend any money on her when it comes to things like this. So I used my reward points at Animates to buy her energy cakes and a feeder. Then I snuck into her garden, hanging the feeder high in the tree’s branches where any cats couldn’t get at it.

I can’t have been that covert in my mission however because the next day I got a call. At first all I could hear was her giggling, which was a little disconcerting – I knew it was Grandma but I wasn’t sure why she was calling.

But it soon became clear that she’d had a dozen wax-eyes within the day, and she was simply overjoyed. She was giggling so much watching them that I soon couldn’t stop laughing myself. We spent a good ten minutes sitting, giggling away while she counted the birds. She then rang my mother to tell her how ‘naughty’ her ‘favourite grandchild’ had been.

Energy cakes are now part of the weekly shopping and my uncle’s also built her a bird feeder. I have just bought the nectar feeder from your website too, which I’m going to sneak it in for Christmas.

My sister and I spent a lot of time at Grandma’s house growing up and feeding the birds was part of the routine. It was such a beautiful home it’s no wonder her grandkids picked up Grandma’s love for baking, gardening and bird watching. She gave us so much. So the little things we can give back are so important.

So I just wanted to say thank you for making your products. It has been an absolute treat to bring the birds back for Grandma.”

Thank you again

Lauren

Feedback like this provides the best kind of job satisfaction we can get! Lauren, thank you for taking the time to write such an incredible letter. We hope you and your grandmother can spend many more beautiful days watching the birds return time and time again to the garden.