Category: Uncategorized

Beauty and Charm

Canada goslings are not so often seen as the familiar Canada geese, the UK’s largest goose and common along the River Severn in Shropshire. They’re not native and were first introduced in the 17th century in St. James’ Park, London.

Although familiarity might make us take them for granted, I find it a special thrill to come across a family with goslings, when suddenly their beauty and charm comes alive.

Wildmoor Pool on the Long Mynd is, as the name suggests, a wild and secluded place, and Canada Geese have successfully raised goslings for the last two years at least…

I had only a few weeks previously just recently recorded Canada goslings at Venus Pool outside Shrewsbury…

It’s good see one species doing so well in Shropshire.

A Miracle Has Taken Place!

An every day miracle!

This is a line in a Mary Oliver poem about birds’ eggs hatching in her neighbourhood:

“And just like that, like a simple
neighbourhood event, a miracle is
taking place.”

from ‘This Morning’

I was lucky enough to be able to take these photographs of two Canada geese with their gorgeous goslings at Venus Pool recently.

As they wandered to the water’s edge, it really looked like they were embarking on the day’s swimming lesson!

Venus Pool is such a beautiful site, and many everyday miracles take place there every day!

The Darkness Opening Into Morning

Mary Oliver wrote these beautiful lines:

“…the darkness opening into morning
Is more than enough…

Think of Sheba approaching
the kingdom of Solomon.
Do you think she had to ask,
‘Is this the place?'”

from ‘I wake close to morning’

I find dawn a wonderful, magical time in Shropshire, at all times of year. This photo of The Wrekin was taken one early morning in August. Now it is May there is are the countless songs and calls of the birds’ daily dawn chorus.

As she says – “more than enough”!

The Wrekin at Dawn

The Bluebell

There’s something about the blueness of bluebells that goes right to the heart.

I’ve been visiting some of the best local woods for bluebells since late April, and now in the second week of May they seemed to have reached their peak.

We have somewhere between a quarter and a half of the world’s bluebells in the UK, and each flower can take 5 years to grow from its bulb. And Ann Bronte wrote this lovely poem about this wonderful wild flower:

“A fine and subtle spirit dwells
In every little flower,
Each one its own sweet feeling breathes
With more or less of power.
There is a silent eloquence
In every wild bluebell
That fills my softened heart with bliss
That words could never tell…”

from ‘The Bluebell’ by Ann Bronte

Staring in Wonder

The pure white face of a lamb stared at me in wonder in the spring sunshine as I reached the top of The Burway, Shropshire’s highest public road…

April on The Long Mynd changed from bleak to beautiful.

On a subsequent visit, I came across more four-footed friends posing dramatically…

Now I was the one staring in wonder.

To be amongst such beautiful company was nothing but blessing.

We Live Amongst the Birds

On a recent walk by the River Severn in Buildwas I managed to photograph this chiffchaff singing, and I thought it went well with something I had previously written about birdsong in April…

~

We live

Amongst the birds

~

Their noisy calls disturb

The silence of the morning

~

But this is their dawning

Of another day

~

And it is not for me

To say

That quietness should prevail

~

Because I see

How empty life would be

If they should ever fail.

~

Many bird species are in decline in the UK, so please do what you can to feed birds and live a nature-friendly lifestyle!

~

The Freedom to Fly Wild

Shropshire has many wild places, and The Stiperstones feels particularly so.

On a recent visit on a beautiful sunny spring day I was lucky enough to encounter a ring ouzel (relatively rare in Shropshire), making harsh “chack chack” calls, just like a stonechat, before dashing out from the undergrowth, just like a blackbird, and going to perch in a nearby tree.

I heard (but did not see) a curlew, and there were some other wonderful close encounters with the inhabitants that grace the skies over this wonderful hill… A kestrel was hunting overhead at the start of my walk:

And it was quickly followed by a raven, also enjoying the spring sunshine:

Just a few days earlier we had given some ex-battery hens a new home – and it all got me thinking about wildness, and freedom, and what we and the birds share…

~

The freedom to live,

The freedom to think,

The freedom to be,

To fly in the wild;

This, I and the birds,

We all receive.

Blackbird Sings

Spring has arrived in the UK, bringing birdsong and occasional warmth and sunshine! Everywhere blackbirds are singing, and one bird singing outside my window in Shrewsbury inspired these few lines..

Blackbird sings

And it rings

Through my world

With happiness.

This particular blackbird was photographed at Atcham, a small village just outside Shrewsbury, in March 2022