Over the years that I've been here, I have occasionally spotted a White Pheasant in the woods down the lane from our field. More recently, on rare occasions, I have spotted two together but ever elusive they always disappear within seconds, well before me and my camera are ready. Imagine my delight when every morning, for the first two weeks of this month, a pair of white birds appeared. They greeted me on my way out to walk the dogs at 6am, along the track to our house. And then they were no longer there and not seen again. I hope they haven't been shot.
The 'fieldsportschannel.tv', describes these birds as ordinary Pheasants that are albino and 'serve two important purposes in the countryside, they help gamekeepers find the other pheasants - and shooting them often incurs a fine for the shooter which raises large sums for charity'. It used to be, 'a matter of pride' and people would often have the birds stuffed and displayed in their homes. It's an interesting description of 'important purposes'. In 2002, the Netherlands banned the farming and release of birds to be shot, calling it 'canned hunting'. 'Shooting farmed birds, (previously 'livestock'), that are driven towards you is not sport, it is canned hunting'. Kashmira Gander (Independent, 2015), wrote about game shooting on an estate and how, over the course of the day, 'each gun tells me how he feels he, is connecting to a 'carnal instinct' when he shoots'. So weird. Thirty five million birds are released in the UK per year and about 15 million are shot, (community.rspb.org.uk), - I think the rest are in my garden. The more one looks into this 'sport', the stranger and more distasteful it becomes - hundreds of birds can be shot in one day on one estate. As the 'league.org.uk ', state, 'this is not one for the pot - it is using live animals as target practice'. But hey, at least it gets you in touch with your carnal instincts.
Aside from the Pheasants, July brought us a month of Autumnal weather. Having gone through the hottest June since 1884, we entered July full of the promises of a glorious, warm summer. Promises were broken and there was barely a dry day, 'often cool, dull, windy, lots of rainfall'. Temperatures were below average, rainfall above average and a 'stronger than usual south-westerley air flow for July', all details supplied by the MET Office. Meanwhile Europe was burning with heatwaves across the southern half of Europe and temperatures reaching 45 degrees in Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal. Multiple forest fires were recorded with loss of life and a large evacuation of holidaymakers, thousands of acres of land was burnt and then the torrential rain and flash floods.
And here in England, our government continues to wine and dine with the fossil fuel lobbyists and has given the go ahead to the largest underdeveloped oil field in the North Sea and Labour has pledged to support it. But, at least they are imprisoning anyone who has the temerity to protest at this environmental vandalism which threatens our lives. It's as if the event concerning Nero and fiddle playing hasn't quite hit home.
Let me move onto more delightful aspects of July 2023. On two separate evenings I caught sight of a White Owl circling the top of the field, silently searching for food. On one occasion, I was about 30 metres away and it didn't notice me. Staying still and almost holding my breath, I was able to stand and watch for several minutes. Glorious. The Swallows continued to grow in numbers and the barns were alive with their chatter in the evenings. The usual list of birds were regular customers at the feeders; Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long - tailed Tits, Woodpeckers, Wrens, Sparrows, Chaffinch. Many of them come with their young and feed the family straight from the feeders. One side of our kitchen table faces a window, which faces the feeders, allowing me to spend time gazing out of the window birdwatching. I now have a pair of binoculars to hand, which is even more brilliant and I have spotted new birds but alas, have failed to identify them. This has now gone on the 'To Do' list for August. Watch this space.
The grasses in the field have lost a good deal of their colour and the windy, wet weather has smashed down considerable areas of the field. The Knapweed survived the storms and threw out a welcome dash of colour along one of the paths. It continues to enlarge its colony. Down by the river the Hemlock Water-droplet has lost all the white colour from its flowerheads but maintained their shape and moved into a dull green with a tinge of deep magenta and umber - they look magnificent. In amongst their bold sculptural shapes, the yellow Ragwort, the auburn flower spikes of the Broad leaved Docks and the bright green of young Ash trees created a marvellous palette of autumnal colours. And if you moved in close to the Ragwort, the familiar black and yellow striped Cinnabar caterpillars can be seen, munching away. The stripes apparently act as a warning to predators that they taste terrible. How do we know this? Who is testing this and giving us this information? I think we should be told.
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