I have been fighting to get fit in this post-university period. I was run down physically and mentally from the final few months at UCS and to start with I had to just sit back and take a rest. People who know me know that resting for me is doing something. I am no idler unless I have a good bottle of something to consume. Then I can sit down in good company and share the contents.

Now that I’m not yomping back and forth to UCS with a satchel full of books I have taken to early morning bike rides to get my fitness back to scratch. Putting slicker tyres on the bike has helped with just enough knobbly bits for towpaths etc. Before I went to UCS it was my intention to carry my camera gear on this bike up and down the Gipping in my quest for Kingfishers and other species that dwell in and along it. I spent hours listening out for these elusive birds, often motionless for long periods observing the landscape with my ears and my eyes. I began to notice patterns in wildlife behaviours and also seasonal changes that affected behaviours and more often than not I would know if I would get a sighting before I ventured out of the house. Well the last two days has seen me take a few different routes and I was minded of a sighting an ex-neighbour had made me aware of just near the railway station. Sure enough as I cycled slowly along this path I wondered about Rob’s sighting then I heard it and then I saw it – that flash of tourquoise and ultramarine heralded by the the patrol whistle. Again this morning taking a reverse route I happened upon it (it had to be the same bird)  again further upstream just after I had had that feeling that I would see it again.

All this is good for me. These little creatures are spiritually uplifting and it is preparing me for my renewed engagement into a wider Edgelands project. Halycyon sightings are good omens for me.