UK Christmas weather. The setting sun sets the sky ablaze, creating a dazzling trail of Greek fire, the light glittering as it silhouettes a winter-bare tree line on the horizon. An enchantment of molten brightness; A potent antidote to the past few days, of relentless rain and wind which were hardly days at all, Just fleeting moments of glistening transcendent fire across the Nansledan valley.
A flock of wintering Lapwings collectively known mysteriously as a "Deceit of Lapwings" reel before dusk
The lapwings (Vanellus vanellus), overwinter here in decreasing numbers. At one point, a hundred or so rise from the banks of a lake and flock together in a great aerial organism; a morphing, contorting mass which recalls the shapeshifting grace of a starling murmuration, twisting and turning in apparent unison. Lapwing flight is sometimes mischaracterized as clumsy, but in this massed form they reveal enormous powers of control and coordination.
As the flock’s collective mind changes from one moment to the next, so does its appearance, oscillating between the main colors of lapwing plumage – black, white, and iridescent green – as the angle of flight shifts. Up there in