Keeping an eye on Ireland’s smallest bird

I CALLED round to visit Kevin, who owns land near the edge of the bog.

He came out of the house saying: “You’re just the fellow I need. There’s been this flock of little birds on the avenue all morning and I can’t work out what they are. It’s very hard to see the colour of them when you’re looking up against a grey sky”.

Kevin’s interested in birds and quite good at identifying them, so this might be a tricky assignment. I got binoculars out of the car and followed him down the avenue.