Evening flight

crows
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

East Leeds is unusual in as much that it stops almost dead. Houses, shops, urbanisation very quickly becomes fields and farmland, dotted with villages - of which Garforth is one.

So believe it or not, this is just 5 minutes walk beyond the eastern edge of Leeds, behind a large supermarket and retail park. I often see the crows and rooks flying over to one of several local roost sites. Very beautiful in the late afternoon light of winter.

Old friends

common gull
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

During the short winter days when I spend the vast majority of the daylight hours at work, I have to make do with very little close contact with nature. So the gulls and corvids that scavenge the food scraps that the kids leave around the school are particularly welcome. Now they might not be everyone's cup of tea but to me they feel like old friends.

I get some very close views of the gulls, as they swoop and dive outside my window, looking like jumbo snowflakes in a swirling snowstorm. For some reason the corvids aren't as bold and keep their distance from the school buildings.

The common gulls are my favourites at the moment, mainly because of the flashing bright white 'mirrors' on their wingtips. Also, they'll only be around for a few more weeks so it's best to make the most of them before they set of to breed elsewhere.

Blue skies

lapwings
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

Seeing these lapwings and this winter blue sky over the fields, just north of Garforth, made me think of this quote from Eleonora Duse -
"If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy,
if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has the power to move you,
if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand,
rejoice for your soul is alive".

On the doorstep

archway
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

One of the unforeseen benefits of a new baby has been to contract the boundaries of where I look at nature. It’s been cathartic to focus on what is right on the doorstep, even right under my nose. So this is the view of our back garden, from the comfort of the sofa by the patio doors. It’s a much-sanitised view, one that doesn’t need the leaves and spilt birdseed sweeping up.

I always knew that the wild areas in the garden were less by design and more to do with a lack of inclination to tidy the garden regularly enough. What is amazing is how tidy nature is. Nature’s been given her head for the last couple of years in the garden, other than me cutting the grass a few times each year. She hasn’t run wild and made a jungly mess, there’s a real economy to her efforts and as a result, the plants look better, healthier, and there are more insects and birds using the garden. As I write, I can see over 20 birds of a dozen different species.

Testament to the health of the garden and its increasing usefulness to wildlife, a wren is foraging along the edge of the lawn just as I’ve seen them forage in rank vegetation at Fairburn Ings RSPB Reserve. Now I’m not saying my garden is comparable, but it’s a start.

The morning after the night before

poplar view
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

We’ve had a dusting of snow this week. People in places that get proper snow would call it a heavy frost, the news folk are saying it’s the start of the next ice age. Like I said, we’ve had a dusting of snow. In the week after Christmas, it makes everywhere look very pretty and festive, and its given us some lovely days and some not-so-lovely days.

This sketch is part of the row of hawthorns and Lombardy poplars at the back of the house on a very lovely afternoon, last Thursday, I think. The gulls were probably black-headed or common gulls. There’s often at least a handful of each on the sports field up the road, at this time of year. Late afternoon, I usually see them and a few larger gulls, like great black-backed gulls, flying off to roost for the night.

In the garden, early this morning, it was the most amazing morning. I was just putting some rubbish into the outside bins, but I was struck by the still and quiet, there was virtually no traffic noise – everyone recovering from last night, I suppose. The only sound was natural, sound I wanted to hear. For midwinter, the birds were virtually putting on a dawn chorus. Greenfinch, sparrow, collared dove and blue tit all in full song, with blackbird, robin, goldcrest, crow and magpie in attendance. The grey squirrels are also thinking of spring already, as 2 chased through the hawthorns and away down the hedgerow.

Happy New Year!!

Calm and peaceful

3 collared doves
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

Firstly, Deb and I would like to thank everyone for their kind wishes!

Well, even with this week's events, I've still managed to keep an eye on the natural world. From the 2 magpies on the hospital roof on Monday (very appropriate - 2 for joy) to a sparrowhawk zipping between the houses on Wednesday as I went to visit Deb. A very Christmassy robin on the birdfeeders in the garden was also much appreciated.

Apart from a wish that there was more to see in the garden at 4am (1 week old baby - nuff said), the thing that has struck me this week is the large number of collared doves about, hence the sketch. There's been up to 6 of them roosting, and generally loafing, in the hawthorns at the back of the house. Are they this year's young? Are collared doves not very territorial in winter (or ever)?

Whatever it is, it seems to have been a good year for them so far. There hasn't been this many around for some time, and from my observations, it seems to be the same all over the local area. I find the song of the collared dove very calming so it looks like it might be a calm year ahead.

Hopefully, that will be true for everybody. A peaceful 2006 to you all.

A new arrival

Mia Rose Whitehead
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

Mia Rose Whitehead was born on Monday 19th December 2005 at 11.31am (GMT), weighing in at 9lb 3oz.

My brother put it perfectly "She's beautiful...are you sure she's yours?"

She is mine - evolution in action!!