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’

Long-tailed Tits

In between the trees

Bright baubles string out mid-air

Birds light up the dusk

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

Jackdaws in a Summer Squall

Two leaves, chucked sky high

Dark shapes dancing in the wind

Rain drenched jackdaws jive

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!