Plant with grass turned over around it, attended by bird (5,4)

I haven't cracked this one yet — but the brilliant team at Times for the Times have:

TURF (grass) reversed [turned over] containing [around] IT, then REE (bird). NHO REE as the female ruff or reeve, and the definition couldn’t have been less helpful but fortunately the combination of checkers and enumeration led me inevitably to the correct answer.