Goldfinches in the Willows

 

Verge-side willows slump
While two goldfinch strip catkins
Of their down; spring snow!

 

Clouds of catkin down
Drift in the warm Spring sunshine
Goldfinch weather now

Spring fields and garden birds

A twister springs up
Swirling wings in a grey sky
Seagulls storm the field

The farmer’s field lake
Grown fat with winter flooding
Now ducks feed for free

Through the window, here!
Robin acknowledges me
For windowsill seeds

Little wren hunts flies
While the blackthorn’s in full bloom
We share the blossom

Starlings and Garden Birds

 

Draped across the line
Pegged out like laundry drying
A starling blanket

Last light! Not home yet
Starlings stream past my window
Super-highway skies

Garden Birds

On the bird feeder
Robin, sparrow and bluetit
Playing seed roulette

On this morning's walk

 

Black-headed gulls glide
Paper boats on a pink lake
Sunrise on the floods

 

Like a loom shuttle
Starlings cross the sky; weaving
A winter pattern

Starlings, Sparrowhawk and Swans, Late Autumn in Somerset

 

Drawing back the night
A curtain of starlings fly
Across the sky’s frame

 

Now, the low gold sun
Trumpets its autumn fanfare
Starlings march the sky

 

Sparrowhawk gazes
From the pergola. It eyes
Hunt me, fierce and wild

 

Flooded fields are now
A waterfowl’s wet dream, ooh!
Check out those swans, wow.

 

 

 

 

 

Pembrokeshire Birds, September 2023

Kingfisher

Perched on a bare bough
Cloth of gold and blue; bright flag
Above the river

 

Little Egrets and Canada Geese

We are gathering
Where the river and fields wend
A way to feed us

Two waiters in white
Among the gaggle of guests
Riverbank dining

 

Red Kites

Red wings, white tails, wind
Almost gone, now returned here
To hunt the blue hills

 

Robin near St Davids Cathedral

Cheese sarnie and tea
Spare a crumb! Table hopping
And hoping for alms

 

Crow

Sizing me up, you
Decide my cake is crow food
Beachside corvid hops

 

Sparrows

A handful of crumbs
For a handful of small birds
Happiness is here

Ham Wall, July 2023

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