Sitting in my study a few days ago, I heard a clicking noise that I couldn’t identify, looking around I spotted a little green bird standing on the windowsill and tapping on the window with his beak (sorry, my new little friend might be female of course) regardless he was a beautiful little chap with bright green and yellow feathers, and was no more than about four or five inches from the top of his head to the tip of his tail.
As soon as I turned to have a chat with my new friend, he flew away, but his job was done, I had been watching the news and had been grappling with some online training and this little bird brightened up my day and made me feel as though life is worth living.
Nobody could ever describe me as an ornithologist and as far as I was concerned my new little friend was nothing more than simply a little green and yellow bird, but he was so beautiful that I wanted to know more. I Google “little green British birds” and the European Greenfinch seemed to be the closest match and I’m told that they are often seen in Norfolk, so that was good enough for me.
We have lived in a more urban area for the last eleven years and I had forgotten what it is like living in the country, there is very little noise pollution here, and I love sitting in my study first thing on a morning with the window open and listening to the dawn chorus.
The morning birdsong is beautiful and much less harsh than the sound of Wood Pigeons and Seagulls, who, in my opinion, prefer a bit of a lie-in because they don’t appear to join in until later. I see the same Blackbird regularly standing on the fence at the front of the manse, there is a little Robin who is a frequent visitor and I keep seeing my little green and yellow friend, who will pop up from time to time and tap on the window.
It is a bit too easy for us to get depressed with everything that is happening in the world and there are times I believe that we do well to stop and appreciate the world we live in. People have different views of creation; the biblical story recorded in the book of Genesis and Darwin’s theory of evolution. Whatever your belief, it seems to me that the natural world is amazing.
Scientists believe that there is an estimated 8.7million species of animals, and around 20,000 species of birds and new species are being discovered by the day. I find it exciting that I never cease to be impressed by nature and whether we thank God, or are simply appreciative we should never take the natural world for granted. My little green and yellow pal reminds how good it is to be alive.