Well, I don't know about you, but my favourite bird report is the London one ... it's cleverly called the London Bird Report. Having "lived" in London for 2 years as a tender youth way back in the early 70's I can assure you that seeing any birds at all in central London is a wonderful thing. And the whole " London Bird Report" concept is based on that simple idea .. when you see stuff in London, it's a " Dancing on the Ceiling" moment. Wo ! Cripes ! Jings! Briwsion ! Wizard! .... and such like. [ Warning: don't actually try dancing on the ceiling.... it's not worth it. The view is crap.] Anything higher up the "rarity chain" than Pied Wag is scribbled down in your little notebook.... do people still do that? So I see the London Bird Report as something rather like those notebooks kept by the inmates of Prisoner of War camps in Germany who watched Black Redstarts obsessively .... making the best of a bad job. Triumph in Adversity, that sort of thing. Have a gander at this, from the 1992 report .... just imagine being that observer .. it's the 3rd of May 1992 ... the writer is A. Stride ....the place is Stocker's Lake...I'm not going to show you the title of this piece for dramatic reasons... hold on to your seat here .. "I noticed what appeared to be a flock of gulls flying high in the distance about one and a half miles away. Thinking that it was strange for a flock of gulls to be around at this time of year I kept watching them through my binoculars. As they came closer I could see that they were all white in appearance; the birds then changed direction and flew towards Garretts Wood, it was at this stage that I realised that all eight birds were egrets. I couldn't believe my eyes. The birds flew in a straight line with a rather roller-coaster flying action as the flock undulated along. All eight birds flew over the lake and disappeared out of sight behind some tall trees on the north west side., by the river Colne - the time was 08.05 hrs.I ran panic-stricken to Stocker's House to ask if I could use the phone and tell Richard Drew ( the warden at Stocker's) of this amazing spectacle, unfortunately his wife told me that he was out birdwatching at Portland Bill for the day. Not knowing what to do I sprinted round the lake to the area where I had last seen the birds disappear. I slowed down as I reached the north west corner and then got onto my hands and knees and crawled along the path alongside the river Colne looking through the gaps in the tall vegetation to see if I could see the birds in the field on the other side of the river; suddenly I glimpsed two egrets wandering around feeding quite close to two ponies. But once again my eyes seemed to be deceiving me - these were not Little Egrets, these were Cattle Egrets. After years of just seeing pictures of Cattle Egrets in field guides I had found some for myself. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What about that ! ... for a start, back then ANY Egret was twitchable. No pagers of course.No mobiles. No dinky little cameras. no nothing! ... so he spent a good while trying to get somebody else to see them, and to contact almost anybody to come and see them. He wondered if there had been a mass break-out form some Zoo or other. Luckily a few local birders did turn up, and eventually he managed to get a message to Birdline South East ... it was a different world then folks. And maybe, a better one. My London bird list was absolute rubbish. No car, no money, no information, nowt. Not that I'm complaining or anything. Not me. But now, in a crunching clash of gears, here's the excellent Tranmere-Rovers-Supporter-Band Half Man Half Biscuit with the terrific and funny " Restless Legs" Here she lies in a fleecy gown
By my side in the eiderdown But she can't get a ticket to Morning Town Cause I've got restless legs Slumber still won't visit me So long as you stay next to me For I have restless legs Milky drink and Sudafed "That should sort you out" she said As I kicked myself clean out of the bed And raised my restless legs Call me a puppet. Cures I've sought All in all they've come to naught I wish it was some astronaut Who had these restless legs 4:06 and I'm wide awake Got an uncontrollable urge to take A 5-mile hike around the ? lake And stretch these restless legs No sympathy from Uncle Greg Nor indeed from Auntie Meg Well Thank God I'm not Jake the Peg With an extra restless leg So come the day when I don't exist And worms are flying through the graveyard mist Don't go calling the excorcist It's just my restless legs It's just my restless legs It's just my restless legs
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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