Monday 22 June
I am so rubbish at starting the week. Monday mornings are an enigma to me. When I look back on any week, I can never recall anything that occurred on any Monday morning. I try not to book anything too important for Monday mornings (other than to get-up) as I am fairly confident that I will mess it up or, at best, not be achieve.
Then I hit 11ish and a strong coffee and my yoghurt-granolla-fruit-honey combo and BAM! I arrive. I’m there. Ok, so not quite ‘bam’ but things are improved.
I arrived at work today and drove through to the rear car park. It is such an amazing location for a school. Last week, I watched a kestrel perch on the tree, casually looking down to the meadow below her for supper. She was definitely female, a larger bird with a glowing chestnut-tan chest. She elegantly glanced over her shoulder towards me a couple of times just to check I was no threat – she knew all along that I wasn’t.
When I stepped out of the car this particular Monday morning I found a pure white eggshell on the grass next to the car park. It’s either a collared dove or wood pigeon, not totally sure. So, actually, not a bad start to the week.
The school is wonderfully located in Heybridge, adjacent to the town of Maldon. It has the rich tidal mud and silt of the Heybridge basin to the east (its rear). To the west, once you are through the built up (but not overly so) town, there is a mixture of agricultural land, wild countryside and woodland all the way inland to the A12 and Chelmsford. The Blackwater River and estuary is where the river Chelmer empties. Just round the corner is where the famous Maldon Sea Salt is harvested.
The school has a constant background ambience sound of bird song, craw, quack and chatter. It is a migratory haven for so many birds at this time of year. It’s heavenly and we need to make the most of it. We will.
That said, we have dipped our ontological toes in the rich waters. The school’s tech department (what a top bloke) gets the students to hone their woodworking skills annually making birdboxes. They also wired up a home made camera rig in one of them. This year a very grateful family of house sparrows used it and the loyal adult pair raised and successfully fledged three young.
Our skeleton staff were able to enjoy watching it but sadly our students couldn’t due to the lockdown. Next year we will improve the camera quality and ensure it streams via our website 24/7.
The Bald Birder 