Birds, Why Are Ye Silent?

.... The tree-creeper hustles
     Up fir's rusty bark;
     All silent he bustles;
     We needn't say hark.
     There's no song in the forest, in field, or in wood,
     Yet the sun gilds the grass as though come in for good....

John Clare

I was photographing a chiff-chiff on the ground near Cheshunt Lock when a tiny flash of white half way up a tree trunk caught my eye. It was the third treecreeper that I have seen in my life. The first was on a weeping willow in my garden. The second photobombed a squirrel that I was taking pictures of at High Beach whilst I was trying to find the asylum where John Clare lived.

Also known as the tree mouse, this tiny bird starts climbing from the bottom of a tree trunk in a spiral to the top. It then flies to the bottom of another tree. Its tail has very stiff feathers which help it to balance whilst making its ascent.