Our kitchen extension, a single-story box with a large skylight, picture window, and glass double doors to the garden, is the kind of setup that advocates say brings the outdoors indoors. What they don't mention is that birds will get in.
It's mostly a summer issue, when the double doors are wide open and the sunlight makes the kitchen and garden seem like one continuous space. Sometimes a magpie wanders in from the lawn, looks around confused, and walks back out as if he'd meant to find sporting equipment instead of housewares. But it's rarely that straightforward.
When we open the back doors, we end up with a few uninvited guests in the house. This gives my wife the chance to practice her tea towel bird-catching technique.