December Weekend

Rain on horizon
Sunrise! Apple red where trees
Of starlings chatter

Flat field flooded now
A boating lake for seabirds
Feather flotilla

Red gape scrapes at seeds
Window feeder mealworm treats
Starling beaks clatter

Long-tailed tits and starlings

 

Long-tailed tits along the lane

Tying song bows to
Broad leaf branches; overhead
Long-tailed tunes flutter

 

Bird table starlings

A squall of starlings
Blows up suddenly, raining
Beaks and talons now

Winter Starlings

Up in the bare trees
A canopy of feathers
Sings about Spring soon

 

On the bird table
Freckles, speckles, sparks and dots
Starlings squabble lots!

Sparrows

Sparrow and his brood
Are moving in. The neighbours
Nesting; note the noise

Christmas Holiday Haiku 2019/2020

Near Stonehenge

Still as standing stones
Sentinel of the circle
Buzzard on fence post

Near Greylake

Fields; silver flood plain
All awash with wading birds
A lake of Lapwings

Near Glastonbury

A strange shimmer runs
Fractal fields shifting. Weird sight
As starlings settle

Evening Sparrow Fugue

Telephone line stave
Against the orchestral sky
Little bird notes: trill!

Telephone line stave
Against the orchestral sky
Melody of birds

Winter Wren, Starlings and Garden Birds

Winter Wren

Among winter boughs

Little wren (walnut brown) bobs

Living netsuke

The Starlings Gather

A Starling garland

On power lines overhead

Decorating me!

Tits in the Garden

Count them; count them all

Each little bird a blessing

Blue, Coal, Long-tailed, Great

A buzzard and some swallows

The Buzzard Above

Circling high above

A slow Ferris wheel ride; free

In carnival skies

Soulful Autumn blues

A crisp air and slow tempo

Solo turn on stage

A singular truth:

To know the limitless sky

Wing and a prayer

Swallows along Cinnamon Lane

The lane (bursting ripe

Hedgerows laden with late fruit)

Is your flightpath home

Crane flies, mosquitoes

Wasps, fruit flies, midge and darter

Alfresco mixed grill…

A flash of summer!

Then two more; swallow wings dip

The deepening lane

Crow at the supermarket

Squashed carpark cupcake

Now, dodging cars, Crow parties

Celebration sponge!

Hands in pockets all

Casual like; ‘Ere,’ he caws

‘Got any crumbs then?’

Falcon, wren and sparrows

Peregrine Falcon

Hawk-eyed, on the fence

Warily watching for food

Bird table sentry

Silent dawn chorus

Falcon glides emptyhanded

No song for supper

Wren

The wren on the fence

A little feather whistle

Blown away by wind

Sparrows

Good day! Good day! Hey!

Dapper in flat cap and tweed

Sparrows chat away

  

Under the rooftiles

A secret stash of treasure

Jack sparrow’s new nest

Wales

Sixteen kites strung out

Above the black hills, hanging

On storm Gareth’s tail

Lone kite, a bright flag

Above the bracken field, keeps

Watch on the wild wind

The heron; stillness

Personified. Unmoving

Until camera clicks!

Grey heron lingers

Haunting the water margins

Hidden from my lens

January Birds

In the Orchard under the Tor

Gliding keen branches

Mustard, like late mistletoe

Green glimpsed woodpecker

On the bird table

Starling, stuttering

Over the abundant seeds

This! And this... and this?

Starling Flocks Arriving Overhead One Evening in November

Here, now; a blanket
Of soft wings brushing the sky

Draws evening close by

The absence of sound

Their solidarity speaks

A thousand times loud

Air net. A lattice of

Beak and wing to stop falcons

From feasting on them

In the late lilac

Sky; thin ribbons of birds fly

Above the old thorn

Heron Flypast

Low bird overhead

Solid grey undercarriage

Heron ‘747’

Blackbirds and Jackdaws

Blackbird Under the Hedge

Dry summer leaves drift

Into the shade. You turn over

An old leaf for snails

Jackdaws in the Old Orchard

Plums, ripe and bursting

In the beak, spill magenta

Wine for thirsty birds

Summer Birds

Young Great Tit

In my hands, frail beat

Of fledged feathers, claw and beak

Fly now, far from me

The dog pauses, wait!

Just long enough for me to

Find a fledgling perch

Hunting Buzzard

Sky-writing above

Longhand. Slow, deliberate

Soliloquy quills

House-martins and Swallows

Weaving through hedgerows

With the evening summer light

Strings of bird bunting

Young Starlings at St. Margaret's Chapel 

From the bell tower

They leap. Hearts and wings clamour

Not falling...gliding!

May Bank Holiday Birds

Swallow

Wandering minstrel

Plucks a tune from a blue sky

Air on a up-draft

Swifts

Now the sky, blue bowl

Rings with your shrill cry; returned!

Brimful with summer

Spring Garden Birds

In the green embrace

Of a Spring garden, birds dance

Singing in delight

Here, now, the first calls

From the eaves, fast wings flash past

New life needs feeding

Seagulls after the storm

Gulls on the low field

Kite tail skips 'gainst a green sky

White triangles fly

Old sailor's sea legs

On dry land, stamping ground now

Gone earthworm fishing

Silver fields blossom

With seagulls after the storm

Garlands of gaggles

Herons and Swans

Herons

Still heron, woven

Into the weft of the reeds

Designs on small fish

Long neck poised, beak sharp

Black-flecked greybeard ruffles breeze

Eyes pierce the stream's heart

In the flooded field

Looking glass lake reflects his

Elegant attire

Five Swans

Five grey swans fly low

Wings lift the cold, lead sky up

Over the Levels