
The sky, this morning. Perfect blue and fluffy clouds!
How often do you stop and look up at the sky? While I was hanging out the washing today, I looked up and saw a perfect blue sky. Such a beautiful sight, but so often overlooked as we walk about, head down or looking at the road ahead. It seemed to be such a perfect moment, the farmer was busy ploughing the field that backs onto our garden, being followed by a flock of black headed gulls, swooping and calling as he turned over the earth. I ran inside to grab my camera, such a beautiful sky deserves to be remembered.
This morning I heard my first cuckoo of the year. At first I thought I had misheard, but no, definitely a cuckoo. I’ve never seen one, I only recognise it’s song (actually, that’s not strictly true, we once watched a female blackbird trying to feed a cuckoo fledgling). Now that the cuckoo is back, it is definitely spring. We are woken every morning by the dawn chorus, I lie in bed listening to the blackbird, I know it’s him sitting high among the cherry blossom. I don’t need to see him, I know he’s there, competing with robins and sparrows to be heard.
I was walking on the edge of Delamere Forest, one of the nicer parts, filled with native trees, not the tall, sparse Scots Pine. A robin was serenading me, a woodpecker was drilling, high in the trees. So many birds and yet I couldn’t see any of them. I felt sorry for the posse of young mums pushing their strollers, wrangling toddlers, too busy discussing haircuts and last night’s TV in shrill voices to notice the lone cherry tree covered in the deepest pink blossom (they walked straight past it, not even pausing or glancing in its direction), the runner plugged into head phones couldn’t hear the birdsong that made me stop in my tracks. He had no idea the smile on my face was because of that first cuckoo.

Tiny thing on leaves – how often do we walk past without even seeing them?
I began to think about all the things we know are there, but hardly ever see. The tiny insects we miss, the first buds on the trees (one minute they are all bare branches, the next they’re bursting into leaf). I realised how many birds I recognise by their song or from the briefest of glimpses (a jay, swooping n front of me as I drove along a country lane, a kingfisher, spied from a bridge as we fed the ducks, listening to the song of a nightingale when were on holiday last summer).

A small patch of bluebells by the edge of the car park.
I took my camera out, to try and capture the overlooked, the missed and the ignored. A few pretty snaps that capture just another spring day. Nothing special, no rare bird sightings or beautifully captured shots, just nature at her mundane best. These are the moments in my day that are special, only appreciated when you slow down, take time to listen and look for the small things.

Comma butterfly, sunning herself.
JanHanPhoto
/ May 1, 2018Lovely post. So true, how often do we take the time to just listen and observe our surroundings.
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Tracey
/ May 1, 2018Thank you, I’m lucky I grew up to appreciate the small things in life!
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Ali
/ May 1, 2018Fab descriptions Tracey! There are so many beautiful things in nature to appreciate with all the senses! Discovered my mobile message tone is a blue tit’s call….listening to the birds whilst hanging out the washing I recognised the pattern and looked for it on-line! I’m sure people wonder why I’m hanging around with my camera outside…such a lot to snap!
Keep looking up!! Ali xx
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Tracey
/ May 2, 2018Oh I love that about your phone! There’s a link in this post to Radio 4’s tweet of the day, a fascinating background to birds and birdsong – taught me loads xxx
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thegrangerange.wordpress.com
/ May 2, 2018I sometimes feel that my life gathers momentum with each passing day and I do forget to stop, to busy being busy, but reading your post I have to ask myself what difference would 10 minutes make to just stop and look around to really see and enjoy what is there. Thank you for your wise words, beautiful thoughts and beautiful images.
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Tracey
/ May 2, 2018Thank you for taking the time to stop by, I know my days are sometimes so busy that I rarely see what’s happening around me – like that blue sky – something I take for granted so often. I’m determined to find time each day to stop and stare!
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Sandy Semple
/ May 14, 2018Tracey your descriptions are divine! I get lost in your words and feel like I’m right there beside you. xxx
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