Mary Paton | Birds on Kirkton, Oil on Canvas, 1979

Somehow in this place, I hear absolute silence. I am not there in the field with the birds, but I am watching them as if through a sound-proof window. 

Their movements are mesmerising and I am soothed by the patterns they form with their wings. The birds are the only thing to move. There is no breath of wind to rustle the leaves on the trees, I do not even notice the clouds scudding across the sky. I just stand and watch the movement of the birds.