I’ve been hearing it for some days now. I thought it was someone in the flat below, cleaning or moving things about, but yesterday it sounded nearer, close at hand even. And then I realised that it was coming from the wall between the studio and my bathroom. First it was a scrabbling sound, then a whining like a young puppy, then a squealing. A young chick caught between the outer and inner wall of the flat. Perhaps it had been in a nest, a blue tit’s possibly, and then fallen down into the cavity, out of reach and sight of its parents. It’s cries were pitiful. I heard them again last night and then nothing. And there is nothing now. Has it finally died, poor creature? R.I.P.
