Birds in the bamboo

While we're on the subject of birds, I thought I would tell you about the birds in the bamboo.

In Lisbeth's garden there is quite a big area of bamboo, as you can see. Every night from spring until the autumn, her bamboo is home to hundreds of birds who come to roost in it at night. They start arriving in ones and twos, then they come in small groups. When the light begins to fade they start swooping down, either in a continual stream or in bigger groups. They sort of dive-bomb into the tops of the leaves, with the last ones, that have been hanging around on the church tower, hurtling in as if the bat out of hell was on their tails.

They are very noisy. It begins with a few twitterings but as more arrive, they get noisier and noisier as they chatter and flutter about in the top of the leaves. By the time it is nearly dark, they are making an amazing amount of noise. Then, quite without warning, they fall silent.