Every evening as I walk the dogs round the paddock to stretch their legs after tea, and before we settle down to a cosy evening in front of the fire, we get to witness a wonderful display of birds settling down to roost for the night on the wires that run through the pylons behind our land.
They swoosh around, chattering and chunnering as they do, finding a spot that they are happy with before briefly it goes all quiet.
Then one more bird will land and virtually everyone takes off again disturbed by the late-comer and the whole process starts again.
You might not even be able to make him out...
... does a circle help ...
... but way down the wires high over the river one bird always sits totally by himself. Neither part of the flock on our pylon nor part of the smaller flock that sits on the wires at the pylon by the river.
I've christened him 'Little Billy No Mates'.
I wonder what his story is, is he waiting for a friend, for his partner in life ... or does he simply want no part of this settling, scattering and settling again that repeats itself over and over until darkness falls. He cuts a lonely image in a great big sky, but hopefully before they all depart for warmer climes he will join in with some friends and be part of the flock again.
Taking photos of the birds made me notice in more detail just how quickly the ferns are now dying off. The patch of brown on the hillside is getting bigger each day, soon there will be ground visible again where only a couple of weeks ago lush ferns filled the space.
We're out of British Summer Time this weekend, with our clocks going back by one hour on Saturday night/Sunday morning. The evenings will be long and dark, but hopefully cosy and relaxing. It's nice once all the jobs are done, the chickens are safely tucked up for the night and we can relax with the dogs and Ginger in the cosiness that is home.
Sue xx
