Marsh Harrier
Harrier over reeds
Hunting warrior in bronze
Feathered armour
Gold wings in late sun
Struck from Thor’s hammer, bright streak
Of talons and beak
Starling Murmuration
Front row gathering
We wait for the performance
A winter ballet
Dusk orchestrates them
A wild weaving chorus line
Dancing wings as one
Sky whale! Sky whale! Swan!
Starlings flow shapes across sky
Nature’s movie show
Bittern
Bittern; subtle brown
feathers flying past the hide
Herringbone beauty
Egret
Feather tutu flies
Musical winds wafting wings
Jete! Jete! Glide!
Swans
In the green canal
Among the waterlilies
White sails drifting by
Graceful necks bending
Low to kiss their reflections…
Pondweed slurps instead!
Cormorant
Sky hatchet cutting
A swathe of leaden landscape
Skewering reedbeds
Jays
Just so much gossip
In the branches overhead
Two jays chat at lunch
Marsh Harrier
Broad wings weave the wind
Around a stand of willows
While rain clouds billow
These are from a recent trip to RSPB Ham Wall in Somerset, a beautiful reed-bed wetland.
Egret
Mute Swan
Robin
Egret
