Dear All,
It's fast moving through August, and our migrants that visit us are
getting ready to leave their breeding grounds. At this same time the
Middle Easterners and especially Egyptians, are getting ready to try
and slaughter every one of them when they arrive on their territory.

I wrote a little piece to accompany a piece of music and thought I
would share it with you, so that you do not forget what it is that
these birds have to face.
Best for now
Brian

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It’s late summer, our migrant wakes up after a cooler night than
usual, as the sun rises he can see his parents out chasing insects for
his siblings that sit in wait on a small branch.

The sun is bright now and he preens his feathers, eager to explore and
learn more from his parents on his twentieth day since hatching. He
leaves cover and is soon chasing his first insect of the day but
hasn’t the skills of his parents yet and it escapes, but soon he is in
pursuit of another which he succeeds in catching and swallows it
contentedly. It is a beautiful day to be alive.

He looks at the place in which he was raised, in a corral young ponies
are playing and chasing each other. The Russian farmers have had a
good harvest, and celebrate the crop with traditional music and
dancing. They are happy and listen and dance to a polka played by the
skilful musicians. Watched by our migrant who is busily chasing
insects as instinct is telling him to eat more than usual, but he has
no idea why he has this constant urge to eat and grows plumper by the
hour. After some time feeding he now seeks a shady spot to quietly
digest his breakfast. Repeating this sequence many times during the
day, coupled with getting extra food from his parents, the sun
eventually lowers and he fluffs himself into a powder puff, and
settles down.

There is a sensation that is new to him, it is his first time to be
cold, and the feeling prevents him from sleeping although his feathers
keep him warm. He can still hear the peasants celebrating, although
less active than during the day. The night passes away and he wakes in
the morning, it is cool but there are insects to chase, but something
is different, his siblings are out feeding but there is no sign of his
parents. He looks around, but continues catching insects, and his
appetite is even greater than yesterday.