It was, for us, a routine walk on the coast – except that I lagged behind to take a few pictures as AA walked briskly away. It was then that I saw a sparrow that frolicked on a concrete block rapidly being ‘consumed’ by the rising tide. It was meant to be just a few shots, but then the little bird dived into the water, perhaps do a kingfisher and was engulfed by a wave. I thought it would soon fly off but that wasn’t the case. And soon I realised it was actually drowning! My worst fears were confirmed as the tiny bird did not fly away after being washed ashore. It was then that I realised it was in some situation. I picked it up and removing the weeds entangled in its weak feet, kept it safely away from the water. The sparrow was breathless, almost dead, soaked in water and barely able to move, except the steady trembling from fear and exhaustion. It was then that AA returned and took the little thing into her ‘care’ – folded it up in her hands and later ‘drained’ all the water out with tissues fetched from the car. Lo and behold, in less than 10 minutes, strength seemed to have returned and the tiny creature was desperate to get away. And so it did. We stepped out from the car and let it go. Even then, it was perhaps too weak to fly off but scampered away at lighting speed into the confines of some old furniture left on the coast.
If I had said earlier the coast was not the place to be on these terribly hot and sultry evenings, I take back my words. For, today, we were there just to rescue an over ambitious sparrow.