"I Remember...."

My memory isn't improving with age so I always feel good when I can start a sentence, "I remember...."

In this case it is no less than two "I remembers....", memories which refer to small birds we encountered on our walk yesterday, and what is unusual about them is that I can vividly remember the first time I saw a member of each species.

The first bullfinch I ever saw was in a field below our house in Maldon, on one of the bird-watching expeditions my son and I made together on Sunday mornings while his two older sisters were in church, singing in the choir. I recall being as stunned by its colour then as I still am now.

The other bird is a whitethroat, a warbler which doesn't have a very beautiful song but makes up for it by finding a prominent position and then singing at full volume. The first one I saw was above the vegetable garden at Matenderere, our house in Kilchoan, and I recall dashing back into the house to get my camera. The whitethroat very kindly obliged by continuing to sing as I took its picture.

They may be small and insignificant but I treasure memories like these.