Constants

We have been lucky. 

Only a few miles East but 600 feet above the flood plain near St Asaph, The village is safe from the floods which seem to be taking taking priority in the National News.

The land has taken a battering, and on a tiny domestic level so have a few of the animals, as this year has been the wettest and the most miserable on record.

Yesterday, I noticed that the guinea fowl looked miserable and cowed against the rain. Unlike the other animals, they alone have braved the elements 24/7 without any respite, and after a summer and autumn where they have been drenched and cold most days, the poor birds were looking tired, and out of condition.

I mentioned to my FIL (father-in-law) that I was worried about the male guinea, Hughie the most, as he looked the weakest. and although both birds made it to their roosting tree last night, I worried about their future as yet another dreadful and blustery night lashed the field.

This morning both birds had gone.

I walked the Churchyard and the field at dawn and found two telltale patches of speckled feathers. Obviously Hughie, had been unable to roost effectively in the rainstorm last night and  the had been taken from the ground, sometime during the night. His mate Ivy, who looked fitter and healthier than he did was no where to be seen, a fact I thought surprising.

Idly, I wondered if she had come down off her tree, (which she had been safe from predators for several years now ) to be with Hughie at the end. Perhaps  loyalty to her mate had been her last in-vain gesture.

The dog fox would have taken both birds, without even a pause.

We are lucky here. We have had no floods, no evacuation from our home and none of the Nation's news teams clogging up the wet roads in order to report on a local interest story..... There has been no drama to really talk about....

All we have had is just to sad little patches of feathers marking the death of a couple of semi wild birds who sat as constant security guards over a small wet field in our corner of Wales for a few short years.

I know it sounds stupid, but before I packed up my FIL to take him down to the station for his long trip back home, I stopped briefly in the rain and shed just one tear for two old loyal birds who couldn't cope with yet another wet , cold and miserable season