scaring shorebirds

I went out in the cool and rain
to walk along the river Nith, towards the estuary
to see the gatherings of shore birds on this autumn day

The wind was in my face, the river in its daily struggle,
with tide and wind pushing waves against the current
causing furious surges and ripples in all directions

I loved the wind and loved the rain
I came to muddy banks covered with resting gulls and cormorants, and ducks
while across the river crows and jackdaws owned the fences in their hundreds

As I came closer up they rose in clouds, the gulls effortlessly gliding,
the crows like lovely tattered cloths, rising and falling, intimate with every little breeze
rose up to settle further on

And all the other birds, away they went, herons took off croaking
warblers darted, goosanders and oystercatchers raced downstream
The curlews went off noisily, sounding their alarm.

the sanderlings and plovers, knots and redshanks
that had been feeding in such great numbers
took off in mini murmurations until I passed

And, as so often before
I experienced myself as interrupter, intruder
an unwelcome observer who perhaps should not have come

Mike O’Kane, Dumfries 2019