Yesterday morning I was not feeling so good, so I came downstairs late. Corinna and Prudence had already breakfasted and were taking their morning consitutional.A few minutes later they walked in through the gate, paused a little, and then Corinna ushered Prudence in through my study door. In a stage whisper Corinna told me that there was a bird of prey in the garden, and it appeared to be stuck.
I grabbed a large net that happened to be on top of the printer, and - net in one hand, walking stick in the other- I followed Corinna into the garden.
It was obviously an escapee from captivity because it was wearing jesses, but it turned out not to be stuck at all. It flew off, giving me and my butterfly net a disdainful glance over its shoulder as it did so.However, it left a dead pigeon - its half eaten breakfast - as a memento mori of its visit. And that, basically, was it.
I telephoned Kaye to make sure that Ross's bird had not escaped (it hadn't), sent Oliver out into the garden with my camera to document the evidence, and then sat down to write this story.
That is all!