Today is St George’s Day and apparently Shakespeare’s birthday and the day he died too (how tidy!).
It is also the day when little owls, an introduced species, were first proved to breed in the UK – and that was in the county of Northants and just down the road from where I am writing. I still haven’t seen a little owl for a while – and I am looking for them.
, via Wikimedia Commons”]
St George was a Syrian soldier who went around killing wildlife – dragons anyway. Although it appears to be his dying rather than his killing for which we should admire him the most.
You can find just about everything in Shakespeare (maybe not mobile phones – although I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of an apparent allusion) and birds there are aplenty.
When Will wrote of the ‘vile squealing of the wry-neck’d fife‘ (Merchant of Venice) his audience would have been familiar with the arrival of the wryneck in March and its high-pitched piping call – but you and I aren’t, as, though the wryneck was a common and widespread bird across southern England a century ago it no longer is. I wonder how many readers of the M of V realise that the wryneck is actually a bird?
In All’s Well that Ends Well Shakespeare refers to the phrase ‘took this bunting for a lark‘ which refers to the disappointment of bird trappers when they catch a dull corn bunting rather than an exciting skylark. It may well be that bird-catchers these days might prize the bunting higher than the lark although their chances of making much of a living in the English countryside would now be very much reduced from Shakespeare’s time.
Looking from the cliffs of Dover, King Lear looked down at the choughs and jackdaws – just jackdaws now, I’m afraid.
, via Wikimedia Commons”]
Kites were commonplace birds – and so they are becoming again these days (hooray!). Nowadays they are not feeding on corpses after battles with crows (eg Coriolanus) but may still pinch scraps of linen for their nests: ‘When the kite builds, look to lesser linen’ (Winter’s Tale). A former colleague used to tell of kites stealing knickers off clotheslines for their nests.
More information of birds and the Bard here. It’s clear that Shakespeare knew his birds but then he also assumed that his audience knew them too. Do we?
And if you can do much better than Shakespeare then why not enter the RSPB Rialto Poetry competition – you have until the end of April to submit your entry. I’m not quite sure why I am encouraging you but my efforts are already entered.
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St.George’s day also happens to be the traditional date on which I see my first swift of the year (the best birds of all and I’ll have no debate thanks!).
I’m lucky enough to have had breeding swifts in our old house for the past few years now and have filmed them breeding (mating, laying etc…) also. You can see my short swift videos by copying and pasting (into your address bar) the link below.
http://www.dmackdimages.co.uk/our-nesting-swifts—videos
My wife and I have moved now, into a post war house, so I spent the winter designing and building a “swift palace” in the attic. I have taken this week off (St.George’s day onwards – my traditional swift date) to call them into our roof but I fear it may take a few years. They’ll not have nested in this town before, I can be pretty confident of that.
As for little owls, I’m also fortunate enough to live near a breeding pair. I’m a little tired of farmers being blamed for what is our fault as much as theirs these days, and my local farm manager is very good to me at least. He’s given me access to his land to film and photograph (later in the year – when owlets appear with any luck) the owls.
I have managed to shoot a few short HD clips of the local little owls, including a clip of a female kestrel dive bombing the owl.
You can see my little owl clips by copying and pasting the link below.
http://www.dmackdimages.co.uk/p376809975
If you want even more of an Athene noctua fix – might I suggest the excellent Dutch website – complete with live little owl cam.
Its been going a number of years this site (I’ve watched with great interest over the last few years) and does have other species on live webcams also.
But the little owl cam (the best on the web?) can be found by copying and pasting the link below. (I’m not sure how to do hyperlinks in comments to your blogs Mark!)
http://www.beleefdelente.nl/vogel/steenuil
Doug
Ah. I see hyperlinks are automatic. Nay bother then!
Doug
Really nice to see that Doug says something like he is a little tired of farmers being blamed for what is everyone’s fault,now don’t get me wrong farmers are part of the problem but we are all definitely to blame almost in equal measure and I hardly or never see conservationists blaming themselves or even blaming general public.Even the massive increase in population has terrible affects on birds and wildlife by making even more pollution.
Lets put it another way and that is that the farmer who gets a kicking is actually one of the few people trying to turn it around,now I know someone will say but my taxes pay him too,that is only partly true as those doing most often end up after all the paperwork is sorted by professionals with very little profit.Of course those large landowners seem to do well out of it and it is a pity that these things happen in all walks of life.
Now I am a big fan of yours Mark but one thing I don’t get is you criticise the NFUs attitude to improving wildlife and while I agree it could do much better we should not really be surprised as the middle letter is the clue.
I await my rebuke gracefully.