I thought today might be the day that defeated me, for the very best of reasons. I was honoured to be invited, along with my husband, to the service of thanksgiving in St Paul’s Cathedral to mark Her Majesty the Queen’s 90th birthday, and then to a lunch at the Guildhall. We left home at the tail end of the morning rush hour and got back late in the afternoon.

I had almost reconciled myself to a post about the support the Royal family has given to environmental projects over the years. But that really would have been cheating.

I need not have worried. Getting off the train on the way home, I paused by the second pond at the station. A young crow was digging around for whatever it could find in the rocks at the back. But flying low over the pond were at least two of these:

and five of these:

 

Aren’t they just wonderful? And just think how many  people would get a regular splash of wildness in their lives if more stations did their best to give nature a home.