House sparrows are nesting on Platform 2 of our little railway station. In April, I noticed a pair popping in and out of a hole in the waiting-room eaves. Come May, they were joined by another couple. Yesterday, a third pair began raising a family, this time under the tiles of the little shack’s roof. I’ve spent many an hour in this well-beloved, red-brick box, during service cancellations, and now it’s reverberating with the symphony of sparrows!

Chirping on the blue guttering, they don’t seem to mind the rushing by of trains, nor the passengers waiting just a few feet below. During announcements, they merely twitter more loudly.