Tuesday 15 March
I went for a run this morning, 6 am. As well as being particularly proud of myself, I am also really pleased that I have started to take on this exercise routine at this time of year. The morning is obviously brightening, like me it’s ‘getting up’ a little earlier now too. And of course as the sun rises it gently nudges its natural bed fellows, and they wake too.
There was no wind this morning, the fresh painted wall of sky, different from the morning before, was a pale grey. And as I jogged around the fifteen minute route, the grey becam paler but wetter as a light drizzle accumulated on my forehead requiring a sleeve wipe of my tracksuit top. And still, the truly beautiful song of the blackbird, a song I never truly appreciated (as I should have) before writing this blog, accompanies me along the first five minutes.
Then I run along the main Harwich Road with no birdsong, but gulls and crows and pigeons making purposeful fly pasts. During the day, birds tend to swing around in the air seemingly celebrating the simple fact that they can fly. In the morning and evening though, they seem to heading in more direct straight lines, heading from A to B. I’ve only done this run three times this early in the morning but I was able to predict that the car coming from behind me would be a white van with D&P Scaffolding emblazoned on the rear doors. I’ve seen it on all three runs so far.
Then, my last five minutes, and I’m back in the quiet lanes approaching my home. The song thrush that serenaded us most evenings last spring and summer during our evening walks was back on his same perch, dripping notes from the branches to the lane below. Last year I think he sang throughout the seasons as I think he struggled to attract a mate. This year he’s seems to be putting himself out there much earlier. Another beautiful, if repetitive song. The early bird…
At work today I encouraged a few pupils to join me in refilling the bird feeders out back. I love seeing these birds from my office window but I must get more feeding stations set up around our site. And I think I will be able to nurture some interested accomplices in making this happen. Peanuts scattered when over filling the feeder and faces screwed up when tipping out mealworms but I think they enjoyed it. I will work at this.
And as I left today, the sky was clear and the breeze had picked up. I watched some seagulls circling above the school grounds, stretching and twisting and bending and making use of the breezy swirls. And as most birds were flying purposefully from A to B to end their day, I pictured the white D & P Scaffolding van heading in the opposite direction on the main road near my house.
The Bald Birder 