I braved the cold this morning and went down to the saltmarsh. It was dead, flat calm down there. But, mysteriously, the wind turbines were whizzing round, as usual. I've had deep suspicions about those turbines. But .... back to the world of sense, causality etc. Having humphed along the soggy heaps of tideline detritus, stopping occasionally to pick up various disposable lighters, plastic straws, chunks of plastic mesh etc, I came across a big ( 70+) flock of the dinky stuff .... chaffinches, greenfinches, goldfinches, a few blue tits and house sparrows ... amazingly cryptic when on the deck, and amazingly obvious when they flew up into the bushes. I searched and listened in vain for any Bramblings, Twites, Tree Sparrows etc to no avail. So ... I humphed back, getting a few chunks of firewood as I went, and set off home in the vehicle. This is all very humdrum, you're all thinking.... but coming up shortly, as they say in the movies, is a first. well, for me anyway. Tonking along a narrow country road, suddenly I saw something crossing the road ... and I thought, hang on, that's a Woodcock! I hope you've noticed, by the way, that I've given all the "interesting" birds a Capital Letter, but not the other stuff. I didn't do it consciously .. maybe I always do it (??) And sure enough, it was, I've never seen a Woodcock crossing the road. Flying over roads, yes. I've only rarely seen them on the deck at all .... 3 times I think. Counting this one. I stopped the car, and it trundled along through the accumulated soggy leaves lining the road..... I drove a bit closer, , stopped, and I got the dinky camera, and took a record snap at maximum zoooooom. Done. That's it up there. Not all that impressive. Then I drove very slowly past it, so it was walking towards me, and zoooomed some more. Luckily,they came out all right. Once I was close to it, it didn't look too good.... at the very least, I should try to get it off the road. I got out of the car and tried to creep up on it, but it always flew up the road a bit . I did this a few times, and it flew over a low hedge and into a big garden. Then it went through another hedge into another garden. Well, at least it wasn't on the road any more. It was on its own now. A strange, and rather sad encounter really. In situations like that, you always feel you've not done enough. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Music now ... why do we like these sad songs ? Editors ... An End has a Start
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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