|  In
the afternoon we have heavy hail showers, rattling on the studio window
and rolling down to collect as a slushy deposit of icy pellets. It' not
encouraging me to think that I'll have a comfortable day to sketch in
the Peak District tomorrow.
 The
bad weather seems to be bringing more birds to the feeders . The cock
pheasant now has six females with him, pecking around
below the feeders, while he watches over them like some monocled aristocrat.
  He
has a quiet clucking contact call which he makes much of the time. We
keep thinking that it's some sound like a child playing in the distance,
or someone trying to start up a small one-stroke motor mower. It's not
a birdlike sound. 
Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk
|
