House sparrows don’t wander far

Twenty-five degrees, read the dashboard thermometer as we drove west out of the city – what a day, of all days in this dysfunctional summer, to have had to spend indoors.

But west Cork was only an hour away, less if you consider it to begin at Kinsale. Soon, we would be cooling off in its Gulf Stream waters. But, by the time we got home, the weather had somewhat turned around.

It wasn’t inclement – it wasn’t raining. However, the chill in the breeze dampened the enthusiasm a tad. Dark clouds rolled in from the Atlantic, but sometimes the sun still broke through. We headed for the beach, a popular strand. However, there were no family parties, no pink and goose-pimpled teenagers in the sea. We sat in the car, considering the wisdom of exiting. Suddenly, a huge flock of house sparrows flew past. Holidaymakers, I thought. So large a flock could only be local sparrows on holiday.