Chuffed, Chiffchaffs Are Staying :)

I wasn't sure whether my chiffchaffs would stay or go. Some but not all migrate to southern Europe and north Africa. I loved it when I photographed one on a beautifully healthy field maple tree still in full bright yellow autumn leaf this morning. They're staying! :) After lunch I stationed myself in a sunny corner of the field and waited for birds. I got blue and long tailed tits, a goldcrest and a robin on the maple. 

I photographed the chiffchaff above flicking its tail happily in the golden hour on a not so healthy field maple. It has few leaves left and is covered with lichen. The blobs in the sky aren't sensor dust but insects which were swarming around the tree top. Our neighbour's lake is nearby, ideal conditions for overwintering chiffchaffs.  My little bird wasn't singing its spring and summer chiffchaff song that we always hear on Bake Off, just the occasional 'weet weet'. They won't sing unless they are five metres up in a tree anyway.

Today's poem is I Came to Love You too Late by St Augustine. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1570952-95-i-came-to-love-you-too-late---st-augustine

A love poem - the love of God. When he was a young man Augustine said, "Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet."