James Gilbert

12-12-25: daybreak came with three singing blackbirds — which of course was a beautiful listen, though perhaps his song most sublimely falls after the long drift of January.

Good to see you back here after your hiatus, Jenevieve.

The black bulk of a raven, in the keen wind rolling & tumbling; just light & effortless in his ways, & as if asking questions of the close-by kite — the windmaster — idle & fluffed-up at his watchtree.

Yes, ah, Cornwall…

On stormy days, always does my mind turn to the coast. I yearn to be on the rugged west, feeling the wind whip & rush, the lip-stinging rain; watching & listening to the mighty waves roll in, break, crash, rebound. The dynamics, the energy. The power, awe & deep timelessness of it all.

Perhaps seen with prejudiced eyes.

red kites
in the wind
in their element

The feeling of awe intensified!

The clarity of a winter night's starry sky brings home the absurdity of our existence.

I’ve also been hearing one particular blackbird singing almost every morning for the past week. Singing quite well, too. It’s lovely, though feels somewhat wrong!

Has a strong lullabic quality to me! And I think heard best under grey skies & in a cool, fresh breeze!

Way, way beyond price, is hearing a thrush’s song when walking streets on a cold, dark & wet December morn. Two hours later & he is yet to leave my mind. I get on with today in the afterglow of the music he made.

The supermoon (cold moon) dawn, today in a local churchyard.

Ah, this looks a captivating read just going by the title & author! It brought to mind one of my favourite quotes (I hope you don’t mind me including here, Nick):

I’m very much enjoying your “Coastal Lexicon Advent Calendar”, Hannah — the words, photos, poetry — all of it. Thank you.

Saw a vast flock of woodpigeons passing overhead this morning. A wonderfully impressive spectacle, by a bird generally disliked & dismissed. Though I thought, how nice a change it was that in this nature-depleted country, I actually witnessed abundance.

Ah, thank you!

Excellent photos!

trees field & hedgerow
bathed in silver light
sharp silhouettes & shadows cast
the cold moon creeps tonight

last leaves drift down
stick to paw-printed mud
whirl in puddled ruts

rising clear from reeds
sun-gleaming & silver-edged
winter-white egret

Really lovely work.

winter silhouettes
pinks amid trees in twilight
blackbirds settle down

Ha! “Glare of outrage” — I like that.

Just now treated to wonderful close views of a male sparrowhawk. The sharp joy & thrill of his brief garden stay! That ice-cold, yellow-eye stare a smile breaker.

Absolutely!

Linnets. On wires, pressed close together, twittering the sun down.

The visual feast that is a hawthorn weighed down with a dozen chack-chack-chacking fieldfares, stripping it of scarlet.

One of the first things I’m interested in doing is desk-based — referring to the Enclosure and Tithe maps for the area, to see what features (if any) have been lost there to “agricultural improvement” over the course of the last 200+ years.

Someone I’m close to has just bought a plot of pastureland, inc. a section of ephemeral stream, with the intention of reviving that land— & I’ll have a part to play in this, which I’m very excited about! A little piece of this world will move with a more natural, freer rhythm; become wilder, richer.