Watching the Birds

By the time we finished our last African safari, now over ten years ago, I had come to believe that driving around in a vehicle was the worst way to see game, and that either walking out to find it or simply sitting in a hide waiting for it to come to me, were far preferable. Of course, had I been the 'twitcher' sort of big game hunter, where seeing the 'big five' was the ultimate goal, then sitting and waiting for them to oblige would have been a non-starter.

For over two weeks now I have been obliged to do the sitting and waiting, made more difficult by the fact that I have to lie on my back with my sick foot above the level of my heart. Fortunately, our sitting room window looks directly out onto the wooden ramp that leads down to the back garden, and from this we have hung several bird feeders which draw the local birds - particularly as we had also just taken delivery of some very fine sunflower seeds.

So while the beautiful goldfinches and siskins quarrel around the feeders, other small birds like the yellowhammers hop around underneath, enjoying the steady rain of seeds from above. And I, from the vantage point above them, sit and watch their antics with great pleasure.