Caged

Waiting for Catie again today I was parked facing the neighbouring school yard. I arrived during the kids break time and watched them circling each other, grazing on various foodstuffs, establishing pecking orders, playing out the same dramas this concrete, wire and Tarmac cage has seen thousands of times. Overhead seagulls, crows and ravens circled or perched on the fence tops, watching for dropped or discarded bounty. I didn't hear the bell that called them in but I saw its effect. A shock running through the scattered mass of them, individuals stopping in mid action, a pause and then like one huge, dispersed animal they move simultaneously, turning and wheeling, order emerging from chaos, and in a moment they move as a group, closing formation and disappearing into the surrounding buildings like bats returning to roost.

And as the tail of the black clad, child swarm vanished the birds descended. Wheeling and turning, diving and pecking, squabbling and facing off, seeking and claiming the wrappers and crumbs. Pickings that have brought them away from hedgerow, field and rolling ocean to this grim little yard.