AN OLD WALK –REVISITED

I used to walk our dogs just outside the town amongst a varied habitat where I could see wildlife. Recently I have walked that way again but more slowly this time to pay attention to everything that is around me. Summer is most certainly here and with it all the activity associated with warmer weather. There is birdsong, the hirundinidae (swallows etc.) are giving their aerobatical displays and perching male birds are showing off with their song and strikingly coloured plumage. Butterflies give extra colour but they are not alone for there is a lot more flying than those. On the ground I watched lines of ants carrying gathered seeds from a White Rockrose into their nests. It’s activity everywhere I look. I walked on slowly, listening, looking and watching towards the irrigation canal where there is dense stand of bamboo nearby. As I approached it I could see three Red-rumped Swallows flying around and tweeting. They were so low that there was no need for binoculars and then they perched for me to get a better good look. A Green Woodpecker flew and then I spotted a male one taking a drink before, it too, flew off. While all of this was occurring there was Serin, Goldfinch and the wonderful sound of Nightingale-possibly two- singing from somewhere within the bamboo stand. I intend to go here again with chair and scope to see what else is there. Patience, I know, will pay me back and maybe get a glimpse of these songsters.