A vague ramble from the Finance Manager (when she should be doing
the budget)!
I’ve been learning about bird watching. Pottering about various
places in the world to see what I can when the opportunity arises.
I had a trip to South Africa in September which was just magical.
To be able to see some of the park’s species in their natural
environment doing what they do best, sitting about, was just brilliant.
Vast numbers of vultures soaring in a great cloud and passing beyond
sight. I am beginning to glimpse the pleasure that other people get
out of spending time in the company of birds.
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Storks and Heron. |
Ash very kindly lent me his binoculars for the Africa trip and this
has convinced me to buy a pair. I’m going to do some hard bargaining
with Sonia in the shop. She has started stocking various types of
Swarovski bins which I am keen to play with. My next trip is to Australia.
Dad has a place in Nambucca which sits between two rivers. He says
there are always heaps of birds there so I’m really looking
forward to that.
Andy lent me his copy of Simon Barnes’ book ‘How to be
a Bad Bird Watcher’. (I begin to see a pattern - is there a
campaign afoot?) Barnes talks a lot about LBJs. These are ‘little
brown jobbies’. I love it.
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Weaver Bird nests |
As a dyslexic I have terrible trouble remembering things, especially
written words, so attempting to remember all the names of birds which,
to a beginner at least, all look remarkably similar, is almost impossible.
But that it is ok to see something and just take pleasure in the seeing
without needing an ology is great. Our guide for the Africa holiday
was South Africa’s top ornithologist, Mark Anderson, (yes, the
guy the Trust helps with African Whiteback Vulture ringing). He was
really great at pointing out any passing feather, giving it a name
and telling me all about its life habits. He can sit in the ute and
identify by bird call and then follow the sound to catch sight of
what ever it is. That’s a real skill and he clearly gets enormous
pleasure from it. I will never be that good. I could never hold that
level of information in my sieve like brain apart from anything else.
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Brei at sunset |
I am very content to just sit, be, breath and wait. I feel privileged
every time something allows me to see it even for just a little while.
If I get the opportunity to see anything in flight I find it truly
awesome, whatever it is; Swan or Falcon, Vulture or Swallow, Kingfisher
or LBJ! Have you seen the way a seagull can stretch out its wings,
lift an inch or two and drop down again just coz he can. How do they
do that?
I get just as soft over the sight of an uncurling fern in spring.
This is why I will never be an ologist. There is too much out there
to specialise on one thing alone. I’d miss out on all the rest!
Now, what was I doing? Ah yes, the budget!