Diverse spectrum of wildlife in London’s Hampstead Heath

It’s a beautiful morning outside the window, the parakeets’ plumage a vivid green, their beaks very red, brighter than the red grapes over which they are having a barney with a starling, the plumage of which, in this light, is also exotic and lovely.

It’s a beautiful morning outside the window, the parakeets’ plumage a vivid green, their beaks very red, brighter than the red grapes over which they are having a barney with a starling, the plumage of which, in this light, is also exotic and lovely, writes Damien Enright.

The plumage of the familiar starling is much underrated but when winter sunlight catches its black shiny feathers, speckled with white dots, it is visually another bird.