@birdshannah At 0530 Menorcan time, a blackbird was in full song. It did, however, have a lazy tune, maybe this is the Menorcan way. Everything else seems to ride this Menorcan vibe too.
@WriterHannahBT Leaning over a balcony wall, enjoying the peace and heat and a Sardinian warbler flew passed just below me. Larger than I remember but still a celebration of grey. A lizard writhed it’s way across the the flowerbed and my day had started.
@WriterHannahBT Wandered to the gorge in Cala Galdana, Menorca. Before I even crossed the threshold I hear nightingales. Singing everywhere. This is what I have been waiting. I soaked it up and drenched myself in nightingale song. The best concert of my life.
@WriterHannahBT From the poolside four poster sunlounger I look up into the blue sky, soaked in Mediterranean sunshine and an Egyptian vulture soars by on rising warm air.
@WriterHannahBT Atop a young, small wild rose, a male reed bunting swayed on delicate nearly nothing branches, awashed in sunshine. A cloud of midges danced beside their hooded executioner. He threw out a few notes and then threw himself away to sell his ware, and the dancing midges danced on.
@WriterHannahBT Chirping sparrows above the bedroom window is a gentle wake up. Coffee on the patio and the magpie always sits on the fence and then picks things out of next door’s conservatory gutter and flies away. Young starlings chive relentlessly too.
@WriterHannahBT Breakfast coffee in the garden. The madness and noise of young starlings dominate. A great spotted woodpecker announces it’s arrival with its ‘chick, chick call. It’s in the spiral branched large willow, I can’t see it, but it urgently tells me it’s there.
@WriterHannahBT Yes, sat outside having my tea with about a dozen racing around and adding their screams to the evening. It’s what I dreamt of in the depth of winter.
@WriterHannahBT Sat on my patio and the garden next door is swamped with starlings. Swallow, swifts and house Martin cruise the blue sky above and a goldcrest is singing relentlessly at the bottom of the gardens in the Scot’s pine. Warm air and slow heartbeat, bliss.
@WriterHannahBT The sound of yesterday’s jazzy pants starling reached my ears again today. There he is, on his gutter, gutter-uttering. Restless wings dance, I think he remembers me. I’m his audience and he doesn’t disappoint.
@WriterHannahBT A flamboyant, overexcited neon starling threw out some cool moves from the guttering. Wing flapping, screeching clockwork dancing. Fantastic chatty tunes, shimmering, vibrant colours. AND THEN!! He flew down and landed on the wall next to me. Beautiful, personal. Unforgettable
@WriterHannahBT Along the dust track beside the shallow pond, I pick up stranded bandit snails and repatriate them into the long grass. A flash of white passes by and I zoom in to watch a common tern hunt for fish. Languid flight punctuated with strenuous hovering. Pure poetry in motion.