THE TREE: A DAY IN THE BUSY LIFE OF AN AMAZING TREE

Most people think it’s just a tree

A shady tree, most certainly.

Dead useful in the summer months

To shade us from the beating sun.

But underneath its canopy

I often sit to drink my tea,

Amused by the loquacity

Of tenants of this great Plane tree.

The early twitter starts at dawn,

With teenage sparrows carrying on,

They wake up early, discussing worms,

Nice juicy ones with lots of squirm.

Grumpy elders wake up next,

A little hoarse from their night’s rest.

They test their wings, give them a flutter,

Ticked off by young discourteous nutters.

The twitter summit then begins,

With neighbouring birds all joining in.

Across the land they squawk and tweet,

With cockadoodles adding pique.

When sunrise comes the agenda’s cleared,

And breakfast time is growing near.

They’ll check my birdhouse for birdseed,

Coming up trumps most of the year.

During the day they leave our tree,

Zooming around most merrily,

And then at dusk they’ll all return,

Tell stories about insects, worms.

They squabble over the best branch,

It’s quite a funny song and dance,

With rustlings and squawks and cheeps,

Some branches clearly best for sleep!

And suddenly the tree goes quiet,

Save for a rustle once in a while.

An owl takes over for the night,

His gentle hoots such a delight.