A garden for all

What do you do when your garden starts to resemble a wilderness? All that cover has been a haven for many birds during the winter but there's so little light getting through that I can't grow any flowers....
To minimise the disruption, I've just reorganised one bed - the one I can see from my windows. The birds are getting a bit confused since, apart from removing a dead tree I've kept the other shrubs but re-sited them to allow increased light into the area. Of course I checked beforehand that there were no nesting birds there. Hopefully the repositioning will result in a wider range of plants - and some flowers even! I've left enough cover and leaf litter to keep the dunnock and song thrush happy, I hope.
In the meantime we'll be building a new raised border to fill with kitchen herbs.