a day of gifts
i was not long awake and reading[0] when there was a knock at my door. i dragged on shorts and a shirt, and went out to find it was one of my neighbours[1], who had brought me cake! =grin= and having finished reading/the story, i was up and about, and there was post/mail... including a card and some canadian coins from parallelgirl =smile= thank you! =grin=
the day here was a cool/crisp sunny/bright one, and i took myself and lurch up into the nearby lee valley park =smile= we went up to 'fishers green', part of the country park - moslty lakeside, with a bit of scrub and trees... and some short, easily wheelable paths, and a bird hide. a site i know well, and my first 'patch' here.. and probably the one i most regularly visit. as i made my way over the canal, and onto the lakeside, i remembered i often manage to arrive as the sun is dropping and fairly face-on as you look out onto the lake from that side... perhaps not the best for looking at things... but i noticed how beautifully warm it was as its rays fell on me, and enjoyed sitting on a (built since i was last there) platform over the lakeside, looking out onto the lake and at the birds from the open for a while. i'm not sure what drew me/caught my attention, but i found myself scanning one of the little reeded islands/islets out in the lake, and found a couple of snipe tucked into a gap amidst the reeds on the edge of the islet =smile=... and in my foreground view their noise prompted me to notice, beautifully framed, a couple of cormorants making interesting noises and moves - fussing or fighting or??? =shrug smile= a shoveler duck far off too... a grey heron on one of the spits/islets... and plenty tufted duck, coot, mute swans, black headed gulls... and a few lapwing =smile= i'd already seen a great spotted woodpecker in the trees by the carpark... and there had been mallard and great crested grebe (as wll as coot) on the canal as i came over, as were there some on the lake. i went on to the bird hide, which was so toasty warm when i arrived, having been in full sun for a while, and spent a good hour or more there, watching the birds, and watching the sun set. the hide looks out onto a small patch of reeds, with a few cuts, and a small piece of water directly out front... and some trees and scrub to either side. it's named 'bittern watchpoint' because it was a good spot to view the regular wintering bitterns from, who lived and fished in amongst the reeds. in recent years tho, the expansion of reedbed in the park, and in other nearby areas, has meant that the bitterns have lots of places to hang out, and they are not so regularly/reliably seen from there. i realised today i wasn't expecting to see one/them there anymore (tho always open to the possibility =smile=). i watched the coots and moorhens out front... some blue tit and a robin... wood pigeons... and a great spotted woodpecker came to one of the trees for a while. there was a really striking birdsong. i don't generally recognise birdsong, and couldn't identify its singer from the song... but it was a very loud song which sounded like it came from a small bird, and there was something fluid in its noise - the song had a quality which seemed to my mind like a slightly viscous liquid, probably golden in colour. very striking. i heard it a few times, but didn't identify its source. i did evenutally identify the small brown birds flitting up from, and across, the reeds from time to time, getting a really good view of them when they strayed to the reeds and scrub to the edge of the bed for a while - a pair of reed buntings, their plumage beautifully subtley streaked, and the male in particular with a very fine moustache, and his pale nape suggesting a scarf (or was it just the cold/dropping temperature as the sun dropped) =smile= i enjoyd watching them alot =broad smile= some great crested grebes came and went from the water in front... the heron flew left... the ducks and other birds continued their routines further back on the lake, moving through their daily patterns. i like the sense i get of bird time[2]... and i also enjoy watching them settle - that and the sun dropping into the water/below the horizon bringing the day to a close. there were more shoveler ducks out on the lake, a pochard... one of the snipe flew across a short way onto one of the little spits of mud, its bill looking as long as (longer than?!) its body, and occasionally looking like it threatened to unbalance the bird =smile= some greylag geese flew over, heading southwestish. i noticed a couple of little grebe out on the lake, having earlier mentally noted their absence, and wondered where they were. and i think i might have seen a pair of wigeon, and a pair of teal, tho both instances were fleeting glimpses, and gueses from shape and size and colour patterns, as they flew briefly into view and then ducked behind islets. the sun having set, and uplighting the blue-grey-ing clouds a warm red, i wheeled back to lurch... pausing to admire a jay sat atop a gate post. and as we drove out of the park, a muntjac deer crossed the road in front of us. i looked to the scrub it had entered as i passed, and saw it waiting to look back at me brielfy before it disappeared =smile=
[0] 'the lathe of heaven' by ursula k le guin. not as lyrical in language as some of her other stories - i really enjoyed 'the eye of the heron' last week, for both the beauty of the language and the story... and the stillness in the eye/gaze... - but an interesting story and characters =smile= and i also enjoyed it for the small, unassuming, yellow hardcover copy form it came in/took... and that it hadn't left the library for 22 years - i liked it getting to air its pages and ideas after so long =smile=
[1] toni - a relatively small older italian man who lives further up my street, with whom i've shared small amounts of conversation over the years, his heavily accented english at times limited (and my italian non-existant, save for a few words), and more importantly with whom i share good feeling and friendliness/neighbourlyness - for whom i collect a fir/christmas tree =smile= i confirmed with him the arrangement was good for this year, yes? and he was pleased, yes =smile=
[2] the daily patterns/routines birds seem to keep, and how they can structure the day, and/or space - this bird, appearing there, at that time...
the day here was a cool/crisp sunny/bright one, and i took myself and lurch up into the nearby lee valley park =smile= we went up to 'fishers green', part of the country park - moslty lakeside, with a bit of scrub and trees... and some short, easily wheelable paths, and a bird hide. a site i know well, and my first 'patch' here.. and probably the one i most regularly visit. as i made my way over the canal, and onto the lakeside, i remembered i often manage to arrive as the sun is dropping and fairly face-on as you look out onto the lake from that side... perhaps not the best for looking at things... but i noticed how beautifully warm it was as its rays fell on me, and enjoyed sitting on a (built since i was last there) platform over the lakeside, looking out onto the lake and at the birds from the open for a while. i'm not sure what drew me/caught my attention, but i found myself scanning one of the little reeded islands/islets out in the lake, and found a couple of snipe tucked into a gap amidst the reeds on the edge of the islet =smile=... and in my foreground view their noise prompted me to notice, beautifully framed, a couple of cormorants making interesting noises and moves - fussing or fighting or??? =shrug smile= a shoveler duck far off too... a grey heron on one of the spits/islets... and plenty tufted duck, coot, mute swans, black headed gulls... and a few lapwing =smile= i'd already seen a great spotted woodpecker in the trees by the carpark... and there had been mallard and great crested grebe (as wll as coot) on the canal as i came over, as were there some on the lake. i went on to the bird hide, which was so toasty warm when i arrived, having been in full sun for a while, and spent a good hour or more there, watching the birds, and watching the sun set. the hide looks out onto a small patch of reeds, with a few cuts, and a small piece of water directly out front... and some trees and scrub to either side. it's named 'bittern watchpoint' because it was a good spot to view the regular wintering bitterns from, who lived and fished in amongst the reeds. in recent years tho, the expansion of reedbed in the park, and in other nearby areas, has meant that the bitterns have lots of places to hang out, and they are not so regularly/reliably seen from there. i realised today i wasn't expecting to see one/them there anymore (tho always open to the possibility =smile=). i watched the coots and moorhens out front... some blue tit and a robin... wood pigeons... and a great spotted woodpecker came to one of the trees for a while. there was a really striking birdsong. i don't generally recognise birdsong, and couldn't identify its singer from the song... but it was a very loud song which sounded like it came from a small bird, and there was something fluid in its noise - the song had a quality which seemed to my mind like a slightly viscous liquid, probably golden in colour. very striking. i heard it a few times, but didn't identify its source. i did evenutally identify the small brown birds flitting up from, and across, the reeds from time to time, getting a really good view of them when they strayed to the reeds and scrub to the edge of the bed for a while - a pair of reed buntings, their plumage beautifully subtley streaked, and the male in particular with a very fine moustache, and his pale nape suggesting a scarf (or was it just the cold/dropping temperature as the sun dropped) =smile= i enjoyd watching them alot =broad smile= some great crested grebes came and went from the water in front... the heron flew left... the ducks and other birds continued their routines further back on the lake, moving through their daily patterns. i like the sense i get of bird time[2]... and i also enjoy watching them settle - that and the sun dropping into the water/below the horizon bringing the day to a close. there were more shoveler ducks out on the lake, a pochard... one of the snipe flew across a short way onto one of the little spits of mud, its bill looking as long as (longer than?!) its body, and occasionally looking like it threatened to unbalance the bird =smile= some greylag geese flew over, heading southwestish. i noticed a couple of little grebe out on the lake, having earlier mentally noted their absence, and wondered where they were. and i think i might have seen a pair of wigeon, and a pair of teal, tho both instances were fleeting glimpses, and gueses from shape and size and colour patterns, as they flew briefly into view and then ducked behind islets. the sun having set, and uplighting the blue-grey-ing clouds a warm red, i wheeled back to lurch... pausing to admire a jay sat atop a gate post. and as we drove out of the park, a muntjac deer crossed the road in front of us. i looked to the scrub it had entered as i passed, and saw it waiting to look back at me brielfy before it disappeared =smile=
[0] 'the lathe of heaven' by ursula k le guin. not as lyrical in language as some of her other stories - i really enjoyed 'the eye of the heron' last week, for both the beauty of the language and the story... and the stillness in the eye/gaze... - but an interesting story and characters =smile= and i also enjoyed it for the small, unassuming, yellow hardcover copy form it came in/took... and that it hadn't left the library for 22 years - i liked it getting to air its pages and ideas after so long =smile=
[1] toni - a relatively small older italian man who lives further up my street, with whom i've shared small amounts of conversation over the years, his heavily accented english at times limited (and my italian non-existant, save for a few words), and more importantly with whom i share good feeling and friendliness/neighbourlyness - for whom i collect a fir/christmas tree =smile= i confirmed with him the arrangement was good for this year, yes? and he was pleased, yes =smile=
[2] the daily patterns/routines birds seem to keep, and how they can structure the day, and/or space - this bird, appearing there, at that time...