Realms of Gold

Love Jackdaws. We have a family that nests in our roof every spring so we have a regular crop of baby jackdaws. Yes, commonly in big groups around us.

A row of books on a shelf.

Thursday evening #shelfie. #booksky #books This row is part of a set of shelves over the desk in my study.

The piece of chalk
With which I mark off the days
When I have done or am due to do
The fish
Is getting small.

It reminds me of my artist friend Miriam Burke who used a piece of chalk to draw a picture of the piece of chalk, so all that remains of the chalk is in its own picture.

House sparrows are apparently declining in UK, but I think that might be because they are all in my front garden: we have loads of them. Possibly my favourite bird.

It tickles me to see them called "European"... we are so used to just calling them "starlings"... at some times of year we have many thousands of them in our village, perhaps 10,000+ sometimes, making huge mumurations. Brilliant birds!

The first bird of my day was a bat, but I guess that doesn't count, so it was a Barn Owl, followed by a surprisingly early Raven, two Kingfishers, another Barn Owl, and then all the regulars. Oh, and ducks... I always forget to mention the ubiquitous Mallards. #FirstBirdOfMyDay

The internet is weird an unreliable! And I am being a bit patchy at the moment.

"To be a poet, you don't have to be a <good> poet"

#WritingAdvice

Another early start, another Tawney Owl. Well, probably the same one! #FirstBirdOfMyDay Not much else about at 5.30am in my neck of the woods!

Tomorrow we can try again, again.
Every day is New Year's Day.

Now that the mornings are getting darker the #FirstBirdOfMyDay is nearly always a Tawney Owl, who I can hear as we set off from the house on our early walk. Nothing much else is up yet. Except today we saw a Barn Owl as well!

My sky at dawn. Good morning from Marbury.

I'm driving home. A pheasant walks towards me up the verge and steps into the road. He stops in the middle of the carriageway. I stop and we look at each other. I want to say "you don't have to do that". He blinks, and moves to the side. I drive on. In the mirror I see him step back into the road.

There seems to have been a glitch in the matrix: I routinely get between zero and 4 interactions on anything I post here, but this week 2 posts between them generated nearly 1,000 interactions. Things are now back to normal, thank goodness. I don’t really expect anyone to be looking at what I post.

Ha ha I don't think they would be of much interest to anyone!

Good morning from misty Marbury.

The more subglacial and ice-marginal landscapes I look at, the more confused I become!

I can see my house!

This is fantastic... I'm going to be looking at this for hours. I might be begging you for more coverage!

I see you, but there are multiple problems being reported with BlueSky just now, internationally.

Yes, that's right... I grew up in Birmingham. Where I am now in Cheshire is not a long way from there.

About here: w3w.co/stack.regret... looking north.

I’m pleased that you like it. Thank you.

I went to the same school as Tolkien, and grew up in his home area... it's not that far from here.

Not at all... I would love to see what you make from this.

Morning mist in all the hollows. Moraine country. Good morning from Marbury. #Cheshire #sunrise

Photo of a dog, with the caption: I am a dog My life is small And most of it Is you.

I am a dog
My life is small
And most of it
Is you.

#dog #poem #DogSky

The sun behind a tiny cloud

Goldfinch, honeysuckle,
Bramble, nettle, crow.
Far away a tractor, and a flock of gulls.
A gentle breeze.
The sun, shaded for a moment by a tiny cloud.
A sleeping dog.
A butterfly.
A frog leaps into Basho’s pond.
Then silence. The sun emerges from its cloud.
I turn back to my book.

#DailyNature

The sun in a clear blue daytime sky, with no other stars.

If you let one star,
however small, come too close,
It hides all the rest.

Mist on the canal.

Frost on the windscreen,
Cold mist along the canal.
Autumn has arrived.