Female linnet 8 April Nothing is as usual on Scout Scar. Not really. LInnet are returned to breed in thickets of gorse and I found this female above a blaze of yellow.
Beautiful and constantly changing cloud-patterns this morning.
And larksong. Skylarksong is my salvation. I look up into the clouds hoping to catch a glimpse, sometimes yes, sometimes no. And listening, listening, trying to pinpoint the sound.
Somewhere, amongst the clouds, but where? The song is closer, the lazy skylark earthbound. I find him singing his heart out in the top of a hawthorn, high on a ridge. Is the female impressed by his saving energy, or disgusted that he doesn't bother with that spectacular flight?
The excursion is a strange mix of solitude with birdsong. And merry meetings.
A pleasing encounter with Kristina who misses mountains but is making the most of Scout Scar. Delighted to see her again.
And Dave who tells of his time in The Gulf with a cavalry regiment. A Hussar on a tank! He tells of the dedication of the Princess Royal to her regiment and it's good to hear of her care for them all. He was a paramedic and knows how stressful their work is right now, exclusively with Covid 19 patients We salute all NHS workers.
And hope it might help a little to share the peace of Scout Scar on a bright day.
My concluding cameo is a garden blackbird who is greedy in hacking into fat balls in a feeder and takes more than his share. But his song is ravishing. And last evening he sang as the sun went down and I caught a glimpse of the bright yellow of his gape, his beak wide. All down his throat a vivid yellow. Not many people have seen down a blackbird's throat, I imagine.
Try Tweet of the Day, linnet with Martin Hughes Games. Interesting on behaviour. There's a BBC archive so it's easy to locate.
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