Window on the World

I’ve been confined to the office for the last couple of days; my car is off the road for repairs, and I’ve got a lot of admin stuff to catch up on. My office window still allows me to see the comings and goings of our local birds though; thrushes come out of the wood every morning and fly east over the house, then back again every evening. Cormorants are now seen every day, although I’m still not sure where they’re going because the direction they fly seems random. Our feeding station is depleting at a rate of about 0.5kg per day (as much as 1.5kg in less than 8 hours when it snows or there’s a heavy frost) and both Coal Tit and Blue Tit numbers have increased to the point where there can be 10+ of each at the feeders at any time. Bullfinch numbers have increased as well, since the first pair returned to our garden at the end of October. Now there are 5 or 6 of these stunning birds around the feeders for most of the day. It’s a species that occupies a special place in my heart because I can still recall my first one from nearly 40 years ago; a haughty male with his brilliant red body, sitting quietly in the tangled bramble bush in our garden. He made an impression that has lasted through several decades of my life and will surely never leave.