Thinking about birds

Small birds, sparrows I think, have been gathering and disporting themselves wildly in Wivenhoe.  I find myself thinking about them as I sew the wings of the tracing paper angel I’m making for the upcoming Made by Hand show.  These little brown birds are just the size to cup in the palm of your hand; they look like soft handfuls, and the purring of their wings as they rush in and out of creepers and gutters is similarly domestic and endearing.  Their job at the moment seems to be dust bathing and nest building.  I watched a gang of them on a jetty tugging at the loose threads of a yacht rope. If there were enough of them, working hard enough, they could release flotillas down the river.  A Walt Disney, Snow White pageant for the Jubilee.