Today's post comes with even less pictures of birds than usual (I am trying to change this by exploring digi-scoping so fingers crossed!) as my phone has broken over this week, or rather I dropped it while trying to juggle it with a sausage roll. However it was due to the fact that I had to go and pick up a replacement phone that I saw what I'm going to write about.
So silver linings and all that.
I had been down to Leeds city centre to pick up my new phone and it was about quarter to 4 as I started making way back. Remembering last year that I saw a roost of Pied Wagtails in January in the trees by the Christmas market, I took a slight detour to go and check. Sure enough, as the hospital across the road came in sight, I saw tiny little dots sitting along the railings of its roof overlooking the town square with the market. As I walked closer it became apparent that there were many more gathering as they flitted between rooftops. Above the noise of traffic and chatter from the Christmas market, they could be heard calling to one another as small groups descended onto closer buildings. There target was a line of 4 small evergreen trees sandwiched between the market and the road, only a about a metre or so above the heads of people walking by.
Then at about 4 o clock they began to flit down in small groups, some having last minute changes of heart and flying back to the nearest rooftop. Most of them settled in the tree where they instantly became invisible. Like literally invisible. I went and stood as underneath the trees as I could get and had real trouble trying to pick any of them out. You could only see them as they moved or another one plummeted through the leaves, wings whirring furiously and tail hanging down making them look like giant humbug coloured crane flies. Luckily the tree on the end was only half covered with foliage and already had a decent gathering of wagtails in it meaning that I could get a good look at these ones that had to settle for second quality real estate.
After enjoying the wagtails for a good half hour I decided it was time to get home. It was when I was walking through some of the buildings at university that I heard all these Blackbirds kicking off with their alarm calls. Nothing unusual there. But as I walked by one Holly tree I faintly heard the flutey summer sound of a Blackbird's breeding song. I stopped and listened again. There it was again, but this time with a little Magpie "chuk" on the end. Now I was interested. I had never heard of crows mimicking other birds, never mind this well, so I went to take a closer look. Then, from the same tree, I heard a snippet of Robin song, and a burst of Wren followed by a quiet Blackbird trill. I eventually came to be standing underneath the tree and could make out a small black shape in the dying light. It was definitely a Blackbird, and I sat listen to it quietly serenade me with the sound of lazy summer evenings, remixed with a variety of other songs.
All in all not bad just to get a replacement phone.
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