Our garden slopes quite steeply down the hillside and halfway down we built a cabin in the garden where we can sit and be close to the AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), which extends for miles from the bottom of the garden.

I noticed the roofing felt had torn so as a short term remedy, before I get round to re-felting it, which is rather a large job in this instance, I placed this heavy Le Creuset iron cooking pot on some large Cotswold stone slabs to hold the felt down. It of course naturally fills with water, which squirrels and various birds like to drink from. But in the last couple of days I spotted a magpie jumping in and out of the pot and having a very good swim and a wash. It seemed to be having fun.

Yesterday while trying to water the garden plants in pots around the patio from a distance, I pointed the powerful hose at this pot and filled it up. This morning while drinking coffee in the warm sunshine I looked up and saw this magpie, one of at least a dozen that fly around the back gardens hereabouts. It disappeared completely and was submerged. When it came out it shook its feathers like a wet dog does and sprayed water all around the roof top. The other magpie looked on with its head to one side apparently astonished. It didn't join in.

We do have a more traditional bird bath on the patio but I think the volume of water in this pot is what makes it attractive.