Tag Archives: Birds

Swifts 2022

I heard your squealing
delighted to see you back
over our rooftops

~

n.b. Later and fewer this year. Heard and seen 14/05/2022z

CLP 15/05/2022

on light

it's nearly midnight
there is too much of it now
they sing all night long

~

n.b. Not that I’m objecting to birdsong.

CLP 14/05/2022

Why getting up and stepping out is better than drawing the blinds and giving up

last owl
first blackbird
ruffled wren
crow drifts from stricken oak
gull sets down by upturned bin
starlings strung out overhead
puffed up pigeon pursuing hen
sparrows cluster
blue tit picking cherry blossom
woodpecker working through the park
mallard mutters while wandering past
robin sings to robin across the path
oh! happiness of goldfinches

~

n.b. NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Thirteen: living with hope in your heart.

CLP 13/04/2022

August iv

sharp red berries

spilled from urgent beaks

mashed underfoot

sweet yellow paste

tentative young wasp

~

CLP 11/08/2021

Time #1

when it’s been really hot

like today, close to the mid-point of June

eventually the blue begins to thin

as if mixed with a few drops of white spirit

.

the air moves a little faster

adding cool to shade

under the solitary oak

crowning the rise

.

arrhythmic sounds of a distant road backwash

strangely vigorous mid-afternoon songs of blackbirds

who call as if expecting rain

but it won’t, not yet

.

there is no accumulation of clouds

over the Blackdown Hills

just the wind seasoned by a dash of brine

chilled through months of swirling winter tides

.

provoked, other birds respond, goldfinches

keening for respite from potential drought

trying to sweet -talk moisture from the sky

to fill the hard-set hoof prints and tyre-track hollows

.

to soften the soil and freshen pasture

to fill the brook now wearing a skin

that barely covers its old bones

its smoothed stones lie dry, matted green

.

heading west into the breeze

every feather extended to the full

a buzzard floats along the hedge

then shifts its path toward the wood

.

I sit against the towering trunk

spine aligned to its hard rutted bark

listen to the plaintive songs

wonder at how fast my sixty years have gone

On Water iii

great crested grebes dance

like that Sunday afternoon

when our hearts dove-tailed

~

n.b. Somewhat hidden by the willow branches, but they are there…promise.

CLP 12/04/2021

At the Exit

Clocks have changed to British Summer Time. The Sun has come out. A strong southerly wind brings warmth to Norfolk.

People are out and about, the sound of children playing in the local park competes with goldfinches, blackbirds, chaffinches and the blue and great tits. An otter has been seen in the Wensum nearby and a large seal has come up river from the sea to nose around the old wharfside.

Daffodils, primroses jostle for attention, bluebells are preparing to make an entrance.

A day to savour. Not the end of Lockdown 3, but a step towards another way of living.

~

n.b. And I have just seen two bats spinning by my windows.

~

CLP 29/03/2021

On Pylons

particular birds

enjoy the sites from these heights

starlings shimmering

~

n.b. None on view here. I was just remembering.

~

CLP 19/03/2021

On Gratitude

Two is company

and that is all that’s needed

to halve a problem

~

n.b. Thank you for the walk SC.

CLP 11/03/2021

L3 (Day 56): Inside

There was no need to exceed the boundaries of my home today. Mend and make do with what food I found.

There is a whole world out there, I know, but most of it is closed and I had plenty of work here.

To bed at 01:00 GMT. I hear birds singing on the hillside, city lights confusing their rhythms.

~

CLP 03/03/2021