Back in 1982 we had some glorious weather in March followed by so much snow at Easter that my Dad built an igloo in the front yard. A real one. Made of blocks. You could sit inside.
We were clearing overgrown brambles and doing some fencing at a rather lovely - if noisy (it's next to a dual carriageway) - site in Northampton. For much of the morning, the sun was out and we were gradually removing layers.
Then at lunchtime...
Half an hour later, the sun was out again.
We saw a kestrel, a red kite, a buzzard, four swans, two Canada geese, a pair of mallards and a coot - as well as gulls and crows. We could hear a wren and Suzy heard a Cetti's warbler.
Apparently they do like this kind of habitat.
Now, I heard a bird I didn't recognise but I don't think it was that. So that doesn't help. Could have been anything. Although, listening to the Cetti on this video - it's the third bird - maybe it was... Check out the one afterwards - a grasshopper warbler... poor thing. Sounds like it's really screwed up his singing mechanisms. At 5:10 it has blackcaps... must remember this in case the one I have seen sings in my garden.
These birds are so tiny... for some reason it makes me feel sorry for them. The whitethroat - at the end - looks like a baby creature.
[Enough birds, Ed.]
On the way out, I saw some graffiti which sums up the view most of us have most of the time.
But, in truth, I can never say that of the volunteering days: time spent outside with good people and wild things is as good as it gets. Even in a blizzard.
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