There are so many beneficial aspects to having a dry stone wall built on a rural property. A free standing wall has such a low ecological impact on the environment and provides shelter and protection to a myriad of varieties of habitat. Wildlife and various beneficial forms of plant life thrive where walls of natural stone criss cross the countryside. One would think there would be nothing to find fault with or complain about.
Unfortunately there is always someone has to come crashing along and spoil it for everybody else. Take the case of this Phoebe that flew into the wall we were building last week. He was not looking where he was going but I can imagine him muttering to himself "Who put this stupid wall here. That wasn't here before. I'm going to lodge a formal complaint at the next bird meeting.
He was perfectly okay after Mark untangled him from the string (except for a slight bloody nose). No need for him to go flying off the handle about liability and damages, or pressing for some legal injunction to have the wall removed.
On the other hand I suppose we could put a caution sign up when were building a walls in the future…
… or maybe just attach black silhouettes of birds to our walls.
