Birds

(This picture is nothing to do with me. Moonface went down to Somerset to watch the starlings wheel and flock before they roost in the evening. There are millions of them, and their aerobatics are awe-inspiring. Next year, perhaps. I love the way in which the shape of the flock mimics that of Glastonbury Tor in the distance)


Is it Spring, or is it me? I seem to notice birds in the garden more than I used to; perhaps it's just that there are more birds to notice, now that our fat cat is unable to stalk and jump as well as she used to.

After wondering for years why we didn't see robins in the back garden, one appeared the other day and is sticking around. That and the bluetits in the front garden make going outside a pleasure. And as I awoke in the early hours the last few days, I heard a thrush singing strongly just outside our bedroom window. It was music.

Yesterday, when Moonface and I were returning home through Clifton with a couple of friends, a pair of tiny dull green birds flew within an arm's length of my face, fluttering and twittering at each other. One returned to perch on a branch just above us - a goldcrest. It's the forst time that I have ever knowingly seen one, and it was so close. At it swayed upon its perch, we could clearly see the flash of gold-orange upon its head giving it a rakishly punk appearance. We felt happily pleased by the unusual sight.


:o)