Cue the birds!

I went to my allotment yesterday to plant some chitted seed potatoes - ‘Sharpe’s Express’ and ‘Red Duke of York’. A robin red breast (scientific name Erithacus rubecula) swooped in a few times, perching precariously close to the spot where I was digging trenches for the seed potatoes. Inspecting my handiwork. Clever creatures. Looking for worms and other goodies that I might have unearthed. I smiled at the bird and I thought of taking a picture of it but my hands were fully gloved and I didn’t really want the hassle of taking them off, rifling in my bag for my phone (camera), and then putting them back on again.

Potatoes planted, I decided to take a break, downed my spade, took my gloves off, and reached for my phone. The robin was gone, or at least not making itself visible to me. The sun was gone too and thick grey clouds had started to gather. Drat!

I didn’t stay miffed for long though because at some point I became acutely aware of a loud chorus of tweeting, even though I couldn’t see any of the birds. They were probably hidden in the surrounding trees and bushes. I had taken note of it casually while digging and planting the seed potatoes, my mind on a hundred and one other things. While resting, my senses became more attuned to the very lively chirping and tweeting that surrounded me. I must say that I have found gardening to be a very ‘natural’ means through which to practice mindfulness. It has helped me so much.

The birdsong was nice to hear. To me, it sounded so joyful!

I didn’t have a robin to take a picture of, so I decided to film this instead:

In the video, you will see that some plants, like my currant bushes, are just waking up. Still very twiggy. Leaf buds are breaking on almost bare stems. The Potentilla in the foreground is slowly being covered in fine new leaves. Green replacing brown. Other plants like the cheery yellow dwarf daffodils, the elegantly scrambling, purple-flowered Vinca minor variegata and red wine-flowered Helleborus standing proud in the background, are in full throttle. So are the birds!

Note: Please pardon the sound quality of the video. It was a bit windy. I''m still a novice at all this!