A disturbed night in which I finished reading Tim Dee's new book "The Running Sky" - quite the most beatifully written book on birds I have ever read - in fact probably one of the most beautifully written books I have read about anything. Here's a little wintry sample taken from a longer section about starlings flocking:
"A rougher magic overtook them as they arrived above the reeds. Great ductile cartwheels of birds were unleashed across the sky. Conjured balls of starlings rolled out and up, shoaling from their descending lines, thickening and pulling in on themselves - a black bloom burst from the seedbed of birds. One wheel hit another and the carousels of birds chimed and merged, like iron filings made to bend to a magnet."
This morning, at the edge of the wood, the kick-kick of a great spotted woodpecker - and there he was sitting high in a tree, the white of his wing stripes picking up the white of the hill.
Here's Maisie's favourite spot for a good run.
Thank you very much for your words on mine - I am thrilled you liked the book. Great photographs and very best wishes too, Tim Dee
ReplyDeleteThanks Tim. Did you find me through Frances and Matt (did a programme with Frances last Autumn). Or have you been googling yourself....? Whatever - the book is marvellous and I keep telling people about that last image of the goldfish and the balloon.
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