Alan Titchmarsh 'heartbroken' after making painful discovery at home with wife Alison

 Britain's best-loved gardener, Alan Titchmarsh, has spoken candidly about a "heartbreaking" discovery that awaited him and his wife Alison upon their return home.

Alan recently departed his Hampshire home in favour of a charming 16th-century cottage in Surrey, meaning he now has an entirely fresh garden to shape and make his own.

Reflecting on his new surroundings, Alan highlighted its striking water feature: "What I love about my new garden is the way it complements the house in the way it's been softly sculpted - there are no hard edges, there's lots of fraying into trees, then shrubs, lower perennials, and the pond with the ducks dabbling."

The former Gardeners' World presenter, who celebrates his 77th birthday today (Saturday, May 2), counts the destruction of his cherry blossom in his old Hampshire garden among the most crushing setbacks he has endured in one of his green spaces.

Speaking to BBC Gardeners' World magazine last year, he said: "My small but now 20-year old plantation of the pure-white 'Shirotae' cherry generally gives rise to gasps in early April.

"This year we went away for the weekend just before it was due to open. We returned and excitedly walked around the back of our barn to take in the anticipated view..."

Yet what greeted the couple was nothing short of devastating. "The welter of buds had been decimated by wood pigeons," he says.

He noted that only a handful of blooms had been spared - those clinging to the very tips of the thinner branches that woudl be too fragile to bear the weight of the marauding birds: "Heartbreaking," he added.

Alan will undoubtedly be eager to sidestep the problems he encountered when he constructed the pond in his Hampshire garden. He reflects that while he never anticipated larger creatures such as otters to materialise in the pond he excavated around 15 years ago, he had hoped for more humble visitors: "Newts and dragonflies, damselflies and perhaps the odd kingfisher."

For a period, that vision appeared to be materialising. Speaking to BBC Gardeners' World Magazine, he describes how the pond sustained a thriving community of insects skimming across its surface - until an unforeseen development altered everything.

"But then, from somewhere," Alan recalled, "probably on the webbed feet of a visiting duck, roach arrived."

Roach, a hardy freshwater fish that can reach up to 14 inches long, are recognised for thriving in demanding conditions - even enduring in polluted waters where other species vanish. That resilience, however, comes with a ravenous appetite.

"Thinking it was just another form of wildlife to gleefully add to my list, I bought some fish food," Alan said.

"Whenever I sprinkle it on the water," Alan added, "the surface turns into something reminiscent of that scene in the James Bond movie where the baddie is eaten by piranhas. The once limpid pool becomes a foaming cauldron for fully 30 seconds before all the food disappears."

Beyond the spectacle, the repercussions have been far from desirable. The roach, not content with occasional feedings, have also decimated much of the insect life that once thrived in the pond. In a bid to restore equilibrium, Alan has encouraged an alder tree to grow over the water, hoping it might serve as a perch for a kingfisher to hunt the fish.