Nature Note – Pandemic
February’s Kibworth and District Chronicle requested memories of the events of March 2020. Having drafted notes on the spectacular starling roost witnessed by readers who live in Kibworth Beauchamp; I have deferred those notes to April so that I can respond to the request for pandemic memories.
A few days before lockdown I had borrowed books from the Great Glen Community Library. Little did I know that those books would remain with me for many months. One was a book about poetry by Stephen Fry. The time that the book was in my possession inspired me not only to read it fully, but also to do some homework. This involved set exercises with exotic titles such as “iambic pentameters” and, “caesura and enjambment”. Then followed attempts at writing poetry for the first time since leaving school.
Looking back my three better efforts were: “2021 Haiku Calendar”; “What did you do in the Pandemic Daddy?” and as you might expect from a birder, a poem about a bird given the title – ‘Identification’
Identification
At first you see it soar on long, thin wings,
You note a body slight, a tail that swings
From side to side. You know just what you see
The tail is long and forms a backwards “V”
It twists its ruddy rudder and comes near
You see it from below and from the rear
A head quite pale, a vivid orange tail
You thought is it a Kite? You did not fail.
David Scott
(This month’s photo shows some of the Kibworth Starlings but only video captures the spectacle of their murmuration.)
Memories of Lockdown – March 23rd 2020
