Sand Martins – I can feel them in the air. Any day now…
I’m ready for them.
And they’ll be followed by Swallows and Willow Warblers, Blackcaps and Sedge Warblers, and Yellow Wagtails and Common Terns. Then Cuckoos, a whole bunch of warblers and House Martins.
Swifts.
Bring it on.
An English spring. I’m ready for it. I’m eager for it.
But these Sand Martins were photographed in Ukraine. I don’t know whether it was a western or eastern part of Ukraine. Maybe it was in the Crimea. On their migration they cross so many imaginary lines on maps over which people have fought and died. I have only the very vaguest idea of why the Crimean War was fought.
How many people in Ukraine are waiting for Sand Martins to arrive – and how many are fearing Russian tanks at the same time?
I have seen 3 Sand Martins so far passing through the Cotswold Water Park. I did think that there would have been a wheatear by now but that has yet to arrive.
That map of the Ukraine is a bit worrying with a natural split down the river system.
I’ve been seeing lots of ash trees in the background in the news coverage of the Ukraine and wondering which willl arrive first; chalara fraxinea, the Emerald Ash Borer or Russian tanks.
Lovely to think of the spring migrants on their way to cheer us all up. Enjoying the last of the winter thrushes – there still seem to be a lot of fieldfares around and their football rattle calls sound really angry! Brilliant song also from the resident blackbirds, song and mistle thrushes.
In other words nature trying to carry on being brilliant while we f*** up the planet.
According to Shepard Clough, professor of history at Columbia University, the Crimean War:
“was not the result of a calculated plan, nor even of hasty last-minute decisions made under stress. It was the consequence of more than two years of fatal blundering in slow-motion by inept statesmen who had months to reflect upon the actions they took. It arose from Napoleon’s search for prestige; Nicholas’s quest for control over the Straits; his naïve miscalculation of the probable reactions of the European powers; the failure of those powers to make their positions clear; and the pressure of public opinion in Britain and Constantinople at crucial moments.”
Sound familiar?
A Sand Martin was sighted at the Pride Park Nature Reserve in Derby yesterday, despite the city council’s efforts to decimate the place. Birds are brilliant!
Derbyshire Ornithological Society: http://www.derbyshireos.org.uk/news.php
Diane – excellent! A bird with a sense of irony!