A veritable battalion of pigeons, in tidy military formation (well, most of them), line up on the roof of the White Swan for the next instalment in the ongoing pigeon/duck war. Recent infiltrations must have provided promising intelligence. The person in the hat walks over the bridge all indifferent, but I have been observing.
“I’m not talking to you.”
“Why aren’t you talking to me?”
“Because I’m not.”
“But why?”
“You have to ask?”
etc.
Tensions are clearly running high in the ongoing pigeon-duck war. With negotiations having broken down, the pigeon high command has sent out a brave scout to keep an eye on the mallards. But what it hasn’t spotted is the counter-espionage agent sneaking in from the left.
Whatever the reason for the journey, travelling on the Cumbrian Coast rail line is always an aesthetic pleasure. If the windows of the carriage are clean, that’s even better.
The recent rains have made the river frisky, and though the ducks’ usual mid-stream gathering place, this little island, is under water at the moment this just seems to give them an excuse to enjoy a paddle. They seem quite sociable about it.
“You know, Pamela, there’s nothing like a nice cool bath to smooth out the ruffles after a hard day’s scavenging.”
“Ooooo, I know, duck. Let me just….. ahhh, that’s better.”
“Love the eye-shadow too. Grey’s your colour.”
It’s gosling season… the parents programmed to keep a close eye on the brood. There were at least three substantial goose families on the Rochdale Canal this afternoon.
A male and female blackbird harvest a rare bounty in winter: the crab apples (I guess) on the tree at the bottom of Keighley Road. Not easy to get sharp on a dull grey day with all those twigs to confuse the focus, but it’ll do.
Why head west? Why not south? Well, the valley runs east-west here so I guess they were trying to work out the best route. Anyway I think Canada geese (which these are — Branta canadensis) live in the UK year-round these days, so maybe they were just commuting up-valley to Todmorden.
Back into Manchester for work-related reasons for the first time since 18th December. The Christmas holidays are over for us all. These pigeons ponder the possibility of a dip in the fountains of Piccadilly Gardens, but understandably refuse — it was a chilly day, winter has its bite back to some extent.
