In the third lockdown, I sat at the glass table in the window looking out onto my scrap of garden, and picked up a pen. No warmth and summer this time, and just the prospect of grey, sitting working at my laptop. With everything shutting down, I opened my notebook and scrawled a list.
6/1/2021
Blue tit on the bird feeder next door
Red kite calling overhead
Cold, frost in the early morning
Sparrow in the tree, feathers, round in the twigs
A nature diary, not a literary one, not intended for anything except to keep me sane. I’ve always looked at nature, and often I’ve written about it. But this was an exercise to keep mind, eye and heart working when all three might as well have gone to sleep.
Next day, a lot more words.
…..
The mint looks dead. But the flower beds have many small leaves sprouting.
…
Robin in the car park. I sent F out to see him. She said he fought many battles against other birds.
….
Wren flying, a fizz blur up from leaves in front of the bike, into other leaves.
I like the details here. I remember the robin. This diary has lain half forgotten since life started filling up again after the lockdown, but as another winter approaches I’ve started recalling fragments of some of the things I recorded.
I’ll share them with you. Like wine, it’ll be better once taken out of the dark and shared with friends.
Open Field 