On the 22nd of August 2015, I spent a lovely hour in our garden experiencing the light fading away and the creatures of the day finding their way home. I counted rooks as they flew past our house to their roost - probably Lime Tree Avenue. When I started, at 7:30pm on the sky was still blue sprinkled with little white clouds. A gentle pink glow on the horizon was the only clue that the day was ending. Half a dozen house martins had just wheeled overhead and a red admiral paid a last visit to our buddleia. Tiny hints of yellow showed that the cigar-shaped evening primrose buds had just started to unroll.
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In half-an-hour clouds turned from white to slate. |
For the first quarter hour, there was just a trickle of rooks. By 8pm, the trickle had turned into a flood. One group of birds was about 40 strong and they flew over too fast to count properly.
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One group of rooks. |
As a dragonfly feasted on evening insects, the flood slackened. By 8:20pm, they had all gone. I had counted about 400 rooks past our house in less than an hour.
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When the rooks passed our house. |
During that hour, the light had nearly gone, moths had started to fly and the evening primrose flowers had opened. So much had changed in such as short time.
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Evening primrose flower. |
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