halftwo
Wird Batcher
[This is distilled from two days on patch in which several non-patch birds have put in appearances.]
Up to the wire, dumpy and dark in the morning light, white rump blinking - Wheatear! Down behind a barn never to be refound, despite the searching.
Across the lane - behind a high stone wall a dung heap smokes - smokes with flies and smokes with steam rising in the still early air.
Pied Wagtails wag and flick, flitting at flies swarming gently - while Swallows swoop across the low field, green and lush. But another movement snags.
A young Redstart, nervous, out of place, fly-catches in short snatches, browns blending in the shades of the dung. It flickers a red tail - a small flame burning.
Linnets sing from Swallow-laden wires in the sunshine.
Meadow Pipits flit from wall to dung to field. Then another movement shows a Yellow Wagtail juvenile sitting on the straw of the heap, another migrant resting on its journey.
Suddenly the Swallows are up and swarming, swirling, rising into the blue, alarming as Swifts join the flock. Somewhere a Hobby is passing but will not show. Birds begin to settle. Calm descends to the warm walls.
Out by the lake where a Heron hauls a fish, heavy, to the bank, on a wire a small, short-tailed shape is silhouetted against the sky.
Soon it flies down to a wall - Winchat - again a young bird on the move. A minute sees it move on - another migrant gone.
Up to the wire, dumpy and dark in the morning light, white rump blinking - Wheatear! Down behind a barn never to be refound, despite the searching.
Across the lane - behind a high stone wall a dung heap smokes - smokes with flies and smokes with steam rising in the still early air.
Pied Wagtails wag and flick, flitting at flies swarming gently - while Swallows swoop across the low field, green and lush. But another movement snags.
A young Redstart, nervous, out of place, fly-catches in short snatches, browns blending in the shades of the dung. It flickers a red tail - a small flame burning.
Linnets sing from Swallow-laden wires in the sunshine.
Meadow Pipits flit from wall to dung to field. Then another movement shows a Yellow Wagtail juvenile sitting on the straw of the heap, another migrant resting on its journey.
Suddenly the Swallows are up and swarming, swirling, rising into the blue, alarming as Swifts join the flock. Somewhere a Hobby is passing but will not show. Birds begin to settle. Calm descends to the warm walls.
Out by the lake where a Heron hauls a fish, heavy, to the bank, on a wire a small, short-tailed shape is silhouetted against the sky.
Soon it flies down to a wall - Winchat - again a young bird on the move. A minute sees it move on - another migrant gone.
