I had cramps during the night, likes(? !) of which I have never had before: the sides of both legs started contracting so violently I thought the flesh would be torn from my legs, thighs to calves. Jack-knifing out of bed and stretching did nothing for an agony of time - just a little shorter than an eon! OK, I am fine today. But what happened? I drank lots of water yesterday, Ate a banana and a couple of naans and a roll.
What actually lead to this was something that happened back on Mon Nov 7 when Vicki and I were informed of a sighting of Cattle Egrets. Pictures to follow. Yesterday Vicki was out morning and afternoon so I thought I would like to bike there and see if there were any still any hanging about. That became a 32Km bike-ride, about 20K too far - but on such a lovely day, every peddle was worth it. So the "murmuration" was an accidental piece of good fortune. And the egrets? None to be seen. However, I can say that the cattle were still in the field - none appeared to have jumped over the moon at either moon-rise or -set.
Here are the Cattle Egrets from the previous week:
We did not want to disturb the cattle so we stayed on the road and took our chances on finding a sight-line.
We actually saw 4 but not easy to get them free of white legs!
I think my "murmuration this night was a small price to pay. By the way, the starlings in flight were very quiet. Only when the were in the trees were they loud. I heard them minutes before I reached an opening where I could see them. I had been looking for individual birds in trees in front of me, not a conglomeration weighing down a wind break.
W O B
