Shock news ... it's raining !!!!!!!!!!!! And about time too. Mind you, it waited till I had just finished yet another early-morning watering of the gardens front and back. The very moment I put the blasted watering can away it started ..and it hasn't stopped. Woo ! Right ... back to business... You will all have admired my rather unusual "Nature Notes" columns on here .... but here's one written by my teenage hero Peter Simple ... he has a gentler, more whimsical approach than me, but then again, I live in a tougher world than he did. For many year he had a brilliant column in the Daily Telegraph with an amazing cast of eccentric characters and quirky illustrations.... and much of his work has been collected into compilations, in the same way that Private Eye does. So ... here's one of his rather eccentric "Nature Notes" ... written somewhere between 1965 and 1969 .... NATURE DIARY by "REDSHANK" The swallows have gone long ago on their autumnal pilgrimage to warmer climes ; and now their deserted nests hang pendulously from the eaves of the old telephone exchange at the far end of our village. The swifts have gone from the ruined bingo hall. The kingfishers - so numerous this summer that at times they made Cripp's Brook an iridescent inferno and caused widespread eyestrain among nature-lovers - all are gone. Only the dotterel, grey and forlorn, lingers hesitantly on. Yesterday, ensconced in a bed of giant wild rhubarb at the edge of Four Acre Meadow, I spent several hours watching a pair of these avian neurotics as they wheeled slowly in irregular circles, obviously uncertain whether to migrate or not. As I know from my own observations in past years, even when the dotterel has made up its mind to migrate ( signalling the decision by slowly turning its nest upside down) it is often unable to decide where to migrate to. After several short flights in different directions it will often return to its starting point. It will then spend several hours in a hunched position, staring hopelessly at its upturned nest, from which most of the lining of straw and old bus tickets has fallen. Finally, as though with a shrug it will slowly turn the nest the right way up again and climb gloomily inside, then instantly begin wondering all over again whether to migrate or not. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well readers, I hope you liked that .... and I hope you now know a little bit more about the life of the dotterel, and will perhaps go to your own local "rhubarb patch" and see if you can add to Simple's penetrating observations. But now, a lovely song ... which may, or may not, have been on here before. Cœur de Pirate ... " Place de la République " ... I hope you're impressed by the œ
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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