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

Swans, Herons and Starlings

Two Swans

Wrapped in sheets of mist

Two swans sleep; waiting for snow

Winter’s white duvet

Two Herons

Mid-air pas de deux

A pair of herons dance by

Encore! Encore! More!

Two Thousand Starlings

Overhead, at dusk

Two thousand wings whispering

This way. This way home.

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