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A Calendar of Haiku - February
[…]It is the February summer that comes, and lasts a week or so between the January frosts and the east winds that rush through the thorns [...]
Richard Jefferies - Life of the Fields 1899
sunny days
tease ... the blackbird
into song
Early nesters are tempted into song by the window of warm weather and cloudless blue skies. Listen to the Blackbird as he sings quietly, almost to himself, from the garden Maple ...
What’s your favourite February ‘moment’ ...
Next month - ‘March Winds’
How beautiful his song is – and so deep in his throat. A wonderful thing to hear during a rather raw midnight family moment. Thank you.
I think all birdsong has the power to calm and heal, and have fond memories of hearing a Blackbird singing just outside our cottage in Timsbury, when I was very young. This is his sub-song, not often heard unless you are close by, when it seems he’s singing just for you.
Yes, a great start to the day, unlike the other news. I love the way the sun teases the blackbird. We are set for a teasing weekend here of 20 degrees and the birds are getting busy but then we get more cold.
We often get a few warm sunny days in February when the birds all sing and early yellow Brimstone butterfly’s are out but then we are caught by a sudden cold snap, like 2018, with heavy drifting snow in March!
Today is the beginning of spring! A day to rejoice! One moment the sun shines brightly and the birds zoom across the garden, carried on the west wind, the next, it is dark as the clouds bunch up to block out the sunlight! Everything it seems is on the move and as I look out into the garden I’m stirred by the same energy. Every atom that belongs to me belongs to the natural world.
As I write, what started as a bright sunny morning with the first of the years Goldfinch back on the feeders, has turned into yet another grey, rainy, and bitterly cold day. Perhaps I should have delayed posting this for a few more days! Tomorrow maybe …
So lovely! Our finches, mockingbirds, and doves also decided it was time to sing, pair off, and look for nesting spots…. Until next week’s surprise snow, that is!
One of the miracles of nature – that with the lengthening days all the birds, animals and us humans too, all feel energised again after the dark days of winter. I’ll have to listen to some recordings of the birds you mention to get a feel of where you live as the birds seem so different!
We have some introduced species from your part of the world! House sparrows love to nest in the palm fronds.
And Starling too though I believe they are considered a pest in some parts! Sadly House Sparrow are in decline here as modern houses have no nesting spaces for them. I think they are related to Weaver birds so nesting in palm fronds is perhaps more natural for them. So different. Thanks!
Goldfinch back on the feeders early this morning after a long absence over the winter.
Female Kestrel hunting from the wires up the lane mid-morning on a bright but cold day.
It was around 4 o’clock on Sunday afternoon – Storm Dennis had mostly passed over, when we had a sudden hailstorm. In the aftermath the sun came out – the black clouds still low and menacing. But the trees, still bare, were lit in rainbow colours – they sparkled and danced in the wind. It was over in a moment – but what a light show!
Despite the torrential rain of the last few days, weeks even, the sun came out around mid-morning and for the first time it really felt like spring. Daffodil and Snowdrop in the hedges, Gorse, of course still in full bloom and Hazel catkins in sheltered spots.