Every morning and evening a bird sings its heart out so loudly in my back garden that you could be forgiven for thinking you were in some tropical forest. (At this stage I have a sense of deja vu, so I may have said all this before - if so forgive me).Its song goes in pairs or triplets of very short bursts, extremely varied and loud. I have taken a rather poor photo of it above, but I assume it is a Thrush. Anyone confirm this?
Last night we went to a drinks party in Southgate Street (we cycled so as to avoid the law - although I believe you can been done for drunk cycling). It was very pleasant, but I couldn't keep track of the number of times the conversation started with: "I know I shouldn't bore you with politics, but..." - which is a way of introducing the favourite gripe that should have been brought to my surgery that morning in the library (every first Saturday in the month from 10am - noon.) I came away with a bigger list.
I want to say I'm a person as well as a councillor.
The weather was almost balmy and we sat in the walled garden. Five days earlier we had stood in front of a blazing log fire clutching mulled wine at another gathering, such are the vagaries of the weather.
Don't forget: http://www.paulfarmer.com/
8 comments:
My initial guess was a thrush, despite the gloom. What else could it be?
no it's an eagle
it's probably not the same bird- where there's one, there's more. it looks like a kestrel to me.
LOL, that reminded me of my friend who's a GP and whose gripe is always "I am not a doctor, I am a human being!" after being regaled with lists of people's ailments at parties.
This has made me nervous about talking to doctors in a social setting in case I inadvertantly bring up the subject of illness :-D
I`m not surprised that you didn`t recognize it as a thrush because they decreased significantly in our gardens. I remember when I used to see many every day, cracking snails on the garden path. Fortunately, they are now on the increase again. They are one of my favourite species - not only do they sing beautifully but they are elegant. When they are listening for the movement of snails, notice their attentiveness.
Eagles????? Kestrels????????????? Someone will be saying it`s a dodo next!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So thats what all the frivolity was in Southgate Street, we heard the drinks clinking as we sat in our walled garden enjoying a glass or two.
Re the conversation topics-I try never to do that at an unofficial get together as I have had it done to me so many times, it is so unfair on your free time, you just want to forget about the job sometimes. Perhaps you should have a leaflet printed to hand out when you get asked such questions-
'I am not on duty to-night but my surgery times are etc, etc'
Sorry for the delay in posting the last two comments.
F's mum, I had no idea you were from that part of the world. I like your idea of a hand-out!
Anon - snail-bashing thrushes are a feature on the patio in my garden. When I say 'patio' I really mean slabs of concrete, of which there are in excess of 160.
The thrush, as you say, is a very industrious worker.
FM - a councillor is never off duty. I was stopped in Waitrose on Friday evening by an elector angry that her neighbour wanted to remove five trees along their common boundary.
This Monday evening just gone I was on a site visit in her garden to see for myself. As a result, I have 'called-in' the Application for determination by the DC Committee, picked up another two tree-related issues in the locality, and added another eight residents to my email directory.
And I only went into Waitrose to buy a bit of liver!
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