Vertical Gardening

Patrick and I are members of the Somersetshire Coal Canal Society, and we help keep the old canal looking beautiful by turning up to work parties and removing any plant growth that might be covering the locks or hiding them from view, get a bit of water flowing through some of them, etc. Hence 'vertical gardening'. Bob is in charge of the work parties and Richard is the chief tree-feller, whilst Adrian is chief fire-starter and tea maker!
This Sunday we were clearing away trees around the bottom lock at Combe Hay so that there could be a nice view from the footpath up the flight towards the Bull's Nose. The work was quite hard, involving dragging felled branches across the newly-filled bottom pound, but was worth it for the final result - a stunning view, of which Adrian and Patrick took quite a few photographs. A few of us were resting on our laurels (no pun intended!) after a hard afternoon's work when we noticed that a tree overhanging the footpath was rustling and inching downwards. We carried on talking as the tree inched downwards a little more, then Richard advised us to get out of the way as the tree was about to fall! The tree fell across the public footpath, and Richard set about chopping it up for firewood. Bob went to inform the landowners, who were only too pleased to have the problem dealt with and receive some firewood for their stove.
Later, as we chatted about our near miss, we noticed a tiny baby fieldmouse by the gate. He seemed totally unfazed by the huge humans standing around making cooing noises - perhaps we were just far too big for him to comprehend. Eventually he disappeared back into the undergrowth. Aww!
Quite eventful for a vertical gardening session!