It’s easy to just glance at the familiar; you’ve seen it before, and you’ll see it again, or so your sub-conscious mind tells you.
But when was the last time you really stopped and looked at something ordinary, something very familiar?
Well, that’s what I’m suggesting you do today.
Don’t just flick past the images but stop and look at each one for 5-10 seconds and look for something you may not have seen or noticed before.
Mallards, like the one above, are one of the most common ducks on the lakes and indeed around the country, but it can be easy to take their amazing colouring for granted. The pearlescent heads of the drakes in shades of blue, green and teal are incredibly striking.
You tend to think of gulls as black and white birds, but their bright beaks can be a beautiful splash of colour.
Look closely at this crow. How many shades of black can you make out? How many shades of black are there? Or is this a trick question and there is only one shade of black - pure black and all the rest are just shades of very dark grey? I remember once being told that to describe a women’s hair in Japan as black as a raven’s wing was a big compliment as that was what many women aspired to.
I wrote about the Dunnock in my last blog but today rather than its sex life, take a closer look at its plumage and the variant patterns that cover different parts of them
Magpies have been prevalent this year and as well as seeing lots of them I have heard their raucous chattering on all my walks this year. They are another bird you think of as black and white yet they have iridescent metallic blue wings. Can you see it? Have you looked at their feet and how the wrinkles there contrast with the smoothness of the claws.
Yet another bird you think of as being black and white but have you looked at the eyes on a tufted duck?
The blackbird is another of those birds you see all the time and think you would know how to describe – black plumage and a bright yellow beak right? - but did you think of or maybe remember the yellow ring around its eyes.
And as Christmas approaches and you thinking of birds I won’t be surprised if your mind turns to a robin, but when was the last time you looked closely at its plumage. Look now and see the difference between its back, its wings, and its stomach below.
And the moral for todays’ blog is look at the ordinary and seek the extraordinary.
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