Future Hope

The day started with an email from one of my cousins to let me know that our other cousin’s husband died during the night, which wasn’t really unexpected news. This means that I am now the family matriarch, which feels quite weird. It doesn’t seem all that long ago that my mother held that role; now she’s gone, together with her siblings, and we have also lost three members of the current generation of eight cousins as well, including my brother.

However, nature has a way of reminding us that new life is always just around the corner, bringing hope for the future. And today was no exception. First of all I spotted a great tit repeatedly tugging at the sheep’s wool which I had left hanging in an old bird feeder on the branch of a photinia bush. Nest building, preparing for new life.

Then I spotted a wonderful sight – the unmistakeable spotted chest of a song thrush. I haven’t seen one in the garden for ages, and was enchanted by it. It stood still for some time, hiding in between the plants, almost invisible, and I managed to take a few quick shots before I lost sight of it. A welcome visitor, bringing hope that he may return.

Lastly, I put up a new bird feeder this afternoon, which I’m trying out to see if it will handle larger seeds better than my current feeders, in which the seeds sometimes seem to get stuck. I went back indoors after I’d filled it and stood and watched. It wasn’t long before a coal tit popped by to check it out. An old friend, happy to experiment with a new feeding source.

So it’s been a day which started with sad news but ended with plenty of hope for the future.