The meadows at the end of the garden are flooded and the view is different each time I look out. At night the street lights and lights of passing cars on the distant road are prettily reflected in shades of red, yellow and white. Whether the night is moonlit or cloudy also makes a difference, a dark, sombre night means large pools of near black, while a moonlit night shows ripples of light moving across the surface of the water. Daylight brings differing shades of grey some making the water look listless and heavy, while in the sunlight the water sparkles and glistens with each movement across its surface. These movements in themselves are interesting, because the causes are so many and varied, they might be from the water rushing across the field as it tips over the edge of the river bank and hurries to find a level in the green grass. The action of the wind is another cause, its speed and strength on the water surface or even the wild life visiting, for instance the heron stopping to stiff leggedly stalk his prey before lunging forward to capture it, or a flock of gulls descending to eat and rest.
A joyfulness seems to fill the gulls when the fields are flooded, one or two pass over then fly away again returning with more each time, the flock grows and swells until it is a huge grey, black and white movement filling the air above the water. The noise grows as their numbers swell and they excitedly fly back and forth over the water, swooping up and down until eventually they all land, some I expect to excitedly feed on the fat worms that have been drawn to the surface by the floods, others to just rest contentedly on the surface of the flooded fields.
The foxes are later arriving for their food each night, could this be because of the flooded fields, if so this is worriesome because it means they will probably have to come by way of the road, which means they increase their chance of being knocked down by a vehicle.
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