Capturing moments. Expressions. Feelings.
Capturing recognition. Being seen. Sharing time.
Capturing presence. Transience. Immanence.
There is a fear that focusing on photographs may make me miss the moment, but actually, often the reverse is true. I live the moment and then get the chance to live it again. I see the expressions of the blackbirds and the incredible puff-ball sweetness of the tit and I feel the yearning for the security of their vulnerable bodies.
Those two blackbirds look at me and make judgments. They will eat close by if I stay still. When they scurry down the path or along the top of the fence, it is as though they are on casters! If startled, they fly up and away on a shallow diagonal, preferably, making hysterical-sounding alarm calls. When close, they cluck quietly, as though in warning or in self-encouragement.
The long-tailed tits come in a noisy group, even though I think there are only four, so a family, probably. They keep high, tinkling contact calls going continuously and occasionally alarm with a buzzing noise. They can hang any which way. In flight, they are surprisingly elegant! They like to be high up, though they will forage in plants closer to the ground, but I doubt they are keen on running on the ground.
In contrast, the blackbirds like the ground and hedges and like to fly close to the ground. Robins and dunnocks will both sing higher in trees than blackbirds.
Goldfinches like to be high up. This one was at my dad's.
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