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And a few final words for
May..... A month much disrupted by trips to the hospital – how
dare the frailties of my body try to interfere with my bird watching!
Undeterred, I took great pleasure in being able to
watch griffon vultures, lanner falcons, the greater spotted eagle and much
else as an intra-venous drip sloshed Ringers Solution into my arm... If
I was to tell the hospital authorities what joy the birds were giving
me I have no doubt they would try to charge me for the privilege of sitting on
their balcony watching the birds go by. The twitchers no doubt would have flocked to see the terek sandpiper had they known it was about. Part of my own satisfaction lies in not telling them, as I detest the way they hound vagrants and cause intense disruption to the areas they turn up in - to the detriment of the rest of the wildlife there. I will never comprehend how twitchers can spend so much money – in total several billion pounds/dollars/euros each year - in pursuit of birds that are doomed to die. Condemned simply because they have accidentally turned up in totally unsuitable habitats, where all they can do is languish in probable misery as they find themselves unable to cope with the unsuitable and unfamiliar surroundings. If only just a fraction of all that wasted money could be devoted to worthwhile conservation projects that could bring great benefit to the birds and those who delight in watching the right species in the right habitats successfully getting on with their lives. Here on My personal highlight was watching the greater spotted
eagle from the hospital balcony, such excellent views and so unexpected, a
great fillip to my depressed karma, as test after test probed my own
condition. An interesting aspect of being in such a geographically
important migration spot is the way that the local species, like the blue tits
and swallows, have already produced at least one brood of young - yet overhead
stragglers are still migrating northwards to try and get into their own life
cycle while the going is good. They say variety is the spice of life and that
certainly applies here! Until next month, good watching. Paul Smith. |