Lullaby in Birdland

On an Edible Mach volunteer session

We sat at the breakfast table eating our porridge. It was 7am. Through the window we gazed at our usual view, the leafless trees on the other side of the steep river bank partly obscuring the neighbour's sloping garden. Crows cawed and flapped above a distant oak.

Suddenly two pied wagtails flashed into view, spiralling together up from the water below, and then they were gone. A few seconds later they were back, black-on-white, white-on-black, spinning round each other, one chasing the other or possibly the other way round. They landed in next door's yard and we had to avert our eyes from what happened next.

As we were scraping our bowls they reappeared on our newly-constructed picket fence, one picket apart, shyly looking the other way, enjoying each other's company. We marvelled at their differing plumage, one having a black bib, the other a brilliant white strip on its tail.

Had that been all we would have been well content. But out of nowhere a grey wagtail appeared, perched on our nearby wall just a few feet from our window. Despite its name it has a glorious yellow belly which it seemed to be enjoying showing off. It had no partner with it unlike its pied namesakes in the background.

After all that excitement, the robin that swooped in afterwards was sadly not given nearly as much attention. Poor little redbreast, far too common a sight around here!

The wonder of it all, none of these avian miracles appeared to be aware that Britain is exiting the European Union. Or if they are, it's not clear they are fully cognisant of the risk that the humans in this country might end up relaxing the rules that currently (to some extent) protect our wildlife. If there is a second referendum, I hope Britain's birds are given a vote.