Listen to the bird song at first light. Look for kestrels on your way to work as they hunt over the roadside verges. Walk to the local shop instead of driving and see how many types of birds you see. Smell the flowers growing on the neighbours wall. Touch the moss and lichen growing on trees. Put a feeder up and keep a list of how many species visit your garden each year or season. So far I have had 24 species in my garden this year. And that isn't including any winter visitors like redwing, fieldfare and waxwing. Watch what they are up to. Are they feeding? Courting? Defending territory? Don't worry too much about names. Names are literally just that. People have different names for the same animal anyway. Enjoy the animals for what they are and not what they are called. Don't be put off by box ticking twitchers. I love kestrels and barn owls. And would sooner sit and watch one of these hunt over the fields all day, than travel 200 miles to see a bird that has blown over from the USA and is the first in the country since 1952. And it is such a rare sighting here, simply because it should not be there. Now, where are those magpies fighting over the parsnip I put in the garden?
 |
Thank you for reading.
