One voice followed by another followed by dozens.
Shouting, yelling, cawing.
Look up to spot the source of the noise.
Circling overhead, a plethora, a flock, a clattering of jackdaws.
Synchronised swirling: order from chaos.
The clattering settles into silence coating a tree.
But soon it is time to leave.
Each voice tells another they want to go,
building and building and building until
whoosh.
A democracy flies
up
into the sky.
A clattering of jackdaws swirling about in a grey sky by Marianne Nicholson
Words by Marianne Nicholson
Feature image of jackdaws perching in a tree by Alex Hillier