...more attuned to the natural world can already detect a lowering of the temperature, and not only in the early morning or evening air.

​

The male gull, lost in contemplation of a small fish he thought he had spotted, starts when the female screams a warning and they both soar upwards, alert to possible danger. From a safe height the birds watch as a human being, his lack of clothes show him to be male, scrambles to the shore, his feet dragging on the small pebbles as he wades through the shallow water. He must, they think, have swum silently underwater before he reached the shore. He has a bag tied around his neck and, reaching the shore, he sits down on the pebbles and quickly and efficiently puts on the shorts, tee shirt and shoes which he had taken from the bag. The birds wonder that he does not shake himself dry as they do when they emerge from a dive. The man stands up and walks briskly off the beach, towards the cliff path. Only mildly curious, the birds fly around his head at first and then head out to sea towards the rocky island which lies some 50 metres offshore and where shoals of fish gather.  

​

The behaviour of human beings has long since lost its power to surprise the birds, as from their high vantage point they observe a variety of human activity. They think much of it involves sex, couplings of different kinds in different places, in the sea, on the beach and most often on the cliff top. Sometimes they observe violent acts, carried out by one human on another, or on their animals, and these angry exchanges do not surprise them very much, as their own lives often involve quick responses to possible danger, especially to the inroads of other birds on their food supply, their young or their home.  But the humans, as far they can tell, are often angry and shout at each other for no reason, unless, possibly, the fight is over picnic leftovers, which the birds will gladly finish if the humans do not.

​

This area has become ever more attractive to humans, and as more of the land is covered with buildings and concrete roads, some of the birds have become quite adventurous, flying ever further inland, away from the sea. They return with stories of plastic bins overflowing with discarded food, a paradise both for birds and for the small animals, especially rodents, whose home was once the “campo”. These semi-cultivated fields have been the major part of land use for centuries but now the creep of the concrete has limited natural hunting grounds and competition for food is intense. These two birds scorn the idea of eating human left overs, and are even dismissive of the birds who go regularly to the fishing port, to feast from the dead fish that the fleet casts aside on the dock. These two birds prize their ancient skills, true fishing they think, tracing the shoals of small live fish, picking a target and then moving in cleanly and swiftly for the kill. 

​

As they fly near the rocky cliff face of the island, the side nearest to the shore, their attention is first attracted by a shoal of small fish and then, beyond the fish, they see a small, stationary boat, lying quiet in the still sea. Keeping to a safe height they fly towards it. 

​

Looking down into the boat they see a motionless figure on the bottom. There is no sign of the fishing activity which the birds know is what humans generally do from these boats. They are strong competition for the fish and one of the reasons some birds look for alternative sources of food. But this figure makes no movement at all, not even when the boat, caught by a stronger breeze, starts to drift nearer the shore. The birds are taken by surprise by this movement because the sails of the boat are down and there is no sound or motion from the outboard motor, which they can see at the rear of the boat. They suppose that the boat is moving of its own volition. The figure in the bottom of the boat gazes sightlessly up at the birds in the clear blue sky, doing and saying nothing.