Bird on a Wire

I was sitting at the computer, I was watching some video that I had downloaded for research, when I noticed a small brown bird that came into the yard. As I have a fairly regular stream of Sparrows visiting the feeders I initially thought it was just a sparrow. I leaned forward to see where it had landed when another bird, slightly larger flew past the window like a bullet. While I could not be sure the second bird looked like a small bird of prey.

I tried to look for this second bird but it was out of my line of sight. From the size, all I could imagine the bird to be was a Merlin. While there was one that I spotted last year in the general area, I would have been surprised to see it over the village. From the brief sighting I thought it to small to be a Kestrel, and the wings looked a dark grey.

All this is happening in seconds in my head as I am also looking to see if I can spot the first bird. In my prize collection of weeds, I can see a small bird and all I can really see is a crest. The bird hiding in the yard is a Skylark. It is hiding in the undergrowth and not feeding, and I realise that it was the way that it dropped into the yard that caught my attention.

I went to get the video and the still camera, and waited to see if I could catch sight of the Lark. I think it had flown off while I was going for the camera as I could not see it at all. So I headed downstairs to look in the yard. The back door is stiff and sticks and as I opened it the Skylark took to the air and was gone in a flash. It was so well hidden that I could not see it.

The Skylark I am sure about, the Merlin I am less sure but the flight, as brief as I saw, was just like the pursuit flight I have seen described in the field guides.

I made myself a coffee and while I was sitting at the computer and not fully concentrating on the video I was supposed to be watching, the Merlin alighted on the telephone wire. I did not have time to get a picture as it just quickly scanned the yard and flew off. Two sightings in one day of a rarely seen raptor has made my day. The only problem is it has had the song “Bird on a Wire” going through my brain ever since.

I did finally watch the programme and follow it without gazing out of the window, it failed to add to my sum of knowledge. In fact it left me feeling jaded as it was billed as being new knowledge, all the details I already knew and have been talking about here for the last two years. However, while it was a programme that I could have watched on TV had I not been busy, I am increasingly finding that the television that most interests me is on the digital channels. But without the computer I would not ever get to see them. I am still not prepared to pay to upgrade my TV or get a set top box, and no way will I be getting a satellite dish. I suspect that when the analogue signal is finally switched off, I will have no more Idiot Box to worry about.