Sunday 27 December
There was quite a storm last night, sweeping in from west to east. Flooding has affected many regions in the west country, fortunately here in the east we tend to suffer less.
Lying in bed this morning, I heard the Fieldfare flock in the orchard behind our house. I think there maybe some Redwing there too. A couple of days ago, whilst walking locally, we came by a wall of leafless hawthorn, laden with fruit. The berries were positively glowing in the clear winter sunshine.
We were wrapped up in thick coats, scarves and gloves, but I basked in the colour-rich warmth that emanated from this natural outdoor radiator. Also, just as our central heating at home clicks as the heat expands the coper pipes and the creaking floorboards, so the hedgerow chirped and tweeted in the warmth. As we walked along the makers of this sound rippled along the row just ahead. Like a blanket is waved and aired on my bed at home, so the birds fell out of the tree alongside us, swooping down and up on to the next one or two trees in line.
When we got to the end, a single female blackbird issued its classic repetitive warning chip-chip-churp. As it flew ahead of us, so the dozens of Fieldfare were shocked off their perches and took flight. Their pale bellies catching the sunlight as they flew off and up, disappearing into the low sunshine.
Like then, today the sun was out, raising spirits. The calm after the storm. And we walked around Ardleigh again, accompanied by a/the lone seagull as our extra companion. Wherever I walk, the seagull is floating overhead.
I am realising, particularly since the first lockdown, how this village we live in is an absolute hidden gem. It sits between Colchester, Manningtree and Dedham and so is understandably overlooked in the area. But since walking around and within it there are clearly some stories untold that are there to be investigated.
Delving a little deeper into the history of the village, I stumbled across the British Newspaper Archive and have had a mooch about. A couple of articles immediately grabbed my attention (below) but I may have to waste a bit of time playing on this site in the coming days and weeks ahead.
A wrong-un from Ardleigh, who was arrested for starting fires in the village. I might go down to the churchyard to take a look for the family. And a phantom ghost, making the news on the road from Wivenhoe. Chasing a man in his horse drawn carriage.
The Bald Birder 