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A Spalding man has had a swimming pool and a diving board erected in his back garden - especially for birds.

John Ward designed and created a unique bird bath after noticing their previous one was unable to cater for all the visiting feathered animals.

The handmade invention was manufactured using left-over plywood and a paint roller from Poundland and lolly sticks.

It took a handful of days for Mr Ward to complete the project which stands at just over four foot and weighted down so it won’t blow over as well as the inclusion of valve to stop it from over filling.

Explaining the manufacturing process, Mr Ward said: “We have a shop bought bird bath in our garden to cater for our feathered friends, but on occasion demand exceeds space to accommodate them all at once, more so on sunny days or warm weather in particular.

“So seeing a need so to speak, I set to with an off-cut of inch thick plywood left over from another project, a new Poundland paint roller tray and other bits and bobs found lying about in the shed to put together a ‘swimming pool’ style bird bath.

“The idea was to make a birdbath in the shape of a home type or size swimming pool in scale complete with diving board and ladder and a sun lounger plus a handy ‘beach ball’ - it was one of our cat’s toys that she lost interest in.

“So the plan was to make the ‘pool’ sides or top to fit the standard shape of the paint roller tray and so measuring both up, it ended up with a three inch surround on the top shaped like ‘paving slabs’.”

He added: “The ‘ladder’ or steps was made from a plastic coat hanger (Morrisons - £1-49 for five I think!) cut in half, the end pieces being the curved ends and put together as a ‘mirror’ of each other, then small ‘rungs’ cut from the leftover’s and glued into place then once dry painted yellow.

“The ‘diving board’ base was made from a cap from an old aspirin bottle with a plastic foam board off-cut as used in display stands for shop window displays - God was good to me that week - for the actual board as its also weather resistant.

“The ‘sun lounger’ was made from half a dozen ice-lolly type sticks (unlicked I may add!) brought from a craft shop some time ago and cut and stuck to form the shape of the said lounger and then painted yellow to match the ladder or steps into the pool.

“There we had a dickery bird swimming pool to cater for our little feathered friends that visit us or rather the garden as they aim for the bird feeders and seed trays.

“Overall the structure stands just over 4 foot and a few inches tall from base to top of ‘diving board’ and this height means any local cats or whatever cannot reach it.”

The pool also offers a shallow and a deep end in case the birds struggle to swim, although the bird bath has not proved a popular attraction just yet.

However, the quirky inventor believes it is only a matter of time before the birds all arrive.

“So far its early days so to speak but the birds are a bit wary to use it,” he said.

“One or two are ‘testing the water’ and coming back importantly so it’s just a question of time really before we get ‘Standing room only’ and ‘Mind where you point that beak’ signs put up.

“Overall it took a few days to make, on and off as waiting for the various coats of paint to dry took the time and you have to bear in mind the assorted bits to make it were either lying around or were relative low cost items.

“The bottom line is it worked out quite ‘cheep-cheep’ really.”