Today
at the beginning of this new year
we are driving to the seaside and
there at the side of the road is a
sparrow-hawk that will
not move, so we have to swerve
to avoid.

Walking on the promenade,
three sandpipers
are there too, and in
thirty six years visiting
we have only ever seen one,
yet this trio are darting in and out
among us and all
the other people.

Surely it is a sign
that we know our birds.