The University of the Self #78

Birdsong, Botany and Betterness Part 8

This article is a continuation of part 7, which can be found here.
Read article 9 here.

Image description: this is a photograph of a watercolour painting I have done. There is a background made of washes in blue, pink-purple and green. Into this paint I have pressed various leaves - jasmine, hydrangea, achillea and peony. The leaves are printed all over the page.

Above is the first of a pair of watercolour leaf prints I made as part of my botany noticings.

Image description: a page from a notebook - the page is dyed and is cream with brown splotches on it. The bottom of the page is loosey divided in half by a black wiggly pen line. Written in black ink are lists of birds - these birds are listed below.

6^th July, 8.11 – 8.58 a.m. Back. Overcast, occasional spots of rain

Eurasian Skylark, Eurasian Linnet, Goldcrest (somehow piercing yet hardly audible), Eurasian Wren, Eurasian Jackdaw, Common Chaffinch, Common Wood Pigeon, Carrion Crow, European Goldfinch, Yellowhammer, Greater Whitethroat, Eurasian Blue Tit, Ring-necked Pheasant, Swallow/Swift/Martin flying above, Common Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Eurasian Curlew (oh, elusive moment I can never hold on to!), Eurasian Magpie, European Robin, Eurasian Collared Dove, Great Tit.

Driving past the entrance to High Barns Farm in Ovingham, yesterday, I saw a group of birds – a mixture of Jackdaws and Rooks – how amazingly distinct they were! I did not take a photograph – some things you are meant to record with your heart.

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I was glad I had taken the time to study differences in corvids, and no longer lump them all together as ‘crows’. They are so different. I made a study of the heads of a Jackdaw, a Rook and Carrion Crow, setting them close together so their unique characteristics become more pronounced.

Image description: A watercolour painting of three seperate bird’s heads. Top left is a Jackdaw, with a light blue eye and back and grey feathers and some brown wash in the background. Bottom left is a Rook with a black eye with light spots in it - its feathers are black and blue tones, and its long beack is pale grey with a black nostril. There is some blue wash in the background. On the right is a crow - it is painted with layers of black, from light to dark, its eye is black with light spots and its beak is shades of black. There is some green wash in the background.

As I grow in confidence in my nature diary, I have made the decision to include more than the bird lists within it. I find that the more I list the birds, the more I wish to talk about other aspects of nature and moments from my life. I had begun to close down, to withdraw and now I feel myself opening out again, like a wing, like a flower.

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Decided to record some of the nature around my friend’s farm in Stamfordham – a natural meadow, uninfluenced by humans for more then thirty years – many years ago, a hay crop was cut but since then, nothing, no human ‘management’. What a strange cycle humans have caused – ragwort – DEFRA – picking the flowers even as a brown butterfly was landing upon it.

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I made the brief notes above as I knew that I wanted to expand upon them and explain a little more. For anyone that doesn’t know, ragwort is a wildflower which is now considered highly invasive. When you have had it on your land, or in your garden, or see it on a verge, you will most likely have learned how fast it grows and spreads, how impossible it seems to control, how endless the picking of it seems. Ragwort is highly toxic so if you are to handle it, please do wear protective gloves. It is toxic to horses and livestock, and so it must be cleared from grazing land. If you do not, DEFRA can issue forms asking what you are planning to do to control ragwort’s spread, and threatening monetary fines if you do not. More information on ragwort can be found here.

Here is where I wonder about the imbalances to nature humans cause - ragwort is a wildflower, and is vital for pollinating insects. It is the foodplant for the Cinnabar Moth and “…ragwort is one of the most frequently visited flowers by butterflies in the UK and more than 200 species of invertebrate have been recorded on it.”

Humans wish to own animals which live on grazing land, and this particular wildflower must suffer for it, so our animals do not. We control what is allowed to grow and where. I am doing my best to help my friend eradicate ragwort on her fields, so it does not affect the horses that we both love. My friend lives alone and has health issues of her own. It is gruelling, desperate, endless work which is having dreadful consequences on both our bodies. I cannot be there every day, and when I have helped, I am ill for a couple of days afterwards. As I mentioned in my diary entry, I picked a ragwort plant at the exact time that a butterfly landed upon one of the blooms. I felt so very sad at the act, and mused upon the intrusion of humans onto nature, and our subsequent attempts to take control of it. As the butterfly flew off, I felt sick with guilt. I have since identified the butterfly as a Ringlet. Once again, I wished to be something other than human. Humans must decide the fate of everything on Earth, it seems. Who decided that we come first?

Image description: A watercolour painting of a Ringlet butterfly. It has four wings, two on each side of its body, which is orange and black and hairy at the top and smoother, with grey and darker grew stripes along the bottom. It has long antennae which seem to be made from black dots with orange ends. The wings are shades of dark, light nad reddich brown and each wing has a dark brown dot upon it. The background is a green wash.

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21.32 p.m. Back. Chilly, wet after a lot of rain

Eurasian Blackbird.

I can hear the rhythmic drops of rain falling through the leaves of the hedge behind the bench.

Common Ringed Plover (? This one possible. It was the unusual call that drew me out to listen).

Flocks of seagulls flying…which direction is Prudhoe (another topic I must take the time to become more familiar with – the points of the compass)?

Common Wood Pigeon.

Frustratingly, the app isn’t picking up so many of the distant calls.

Song Thrush.

Call after call and the app offers nothing – I wish I could cure my reliance on it.

21.30 p.m. Amazing insect* settled on recycling bag on veranda.
22.47 p.m. The silhouette of a Pipistrelle.

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*Research has told me that this was a type of Shield Bug, known as Forest Bug, also known as Red-legged Shield Bug. Adults can be seen from July, and it lives in woodland and gardens. It feeds upon deciduous tree sap. And trees there are a-plenty here. Its decorative trim was amazing – so distinctive. I have attempted a painting of it, to ensure I squeezed as much observation from the encounter as possible.

Shield bugs are bugs, not beetles, and they have two sets of wings – one which has hardened to create their protective shell and one which they use to fly. There are sixty varieties of Shield Bug in the UK. Apparently they can expel a pungent substance if they feel threatened.

Image description: a watercolour painting of a Forest Bug. The main body, legs and antennae are shades or reddish brown to dark brown. It has four spindly jointed legs. It has an oval head with large round brown eyes. Its body is leaf-shaped and the back part of the body is edged on both sides with brown and yellow square patterns. It has a yellow tip in the middle of its back and a yellow tip on its end. It is balanced on the serrated edge of a white paper bag.

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7^th July, 6.37 – 7.14 a.m. Back. Chilly, wet from rain, trying to fair up, overcast

Eurasian Jackdaw, Common Wood Pigeon, Long-tailed Tit, Eurasian Siskin, Dunnock, Eurasian Skylark, Great Tit, European Goldfinch, Song Thrush, Common Chiffchaff, European Greenfinch, Eurasian Blackbird, Eurasian Wren, Swallow/Swift/Martin in the air, Eurasian Linnet.

Birds are flying in and out if the hedge behind me.
Greater Whitethroat song very clear this morning.

Common Chaffinch, European Robin.

Their lives are already a poem better than anything we could ever write.

Great Spotted Woodpecker, House Sparrow, Eurasian Blue Tit, Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

A new batch of Common Poppy has opened in a shade of red one can only imagine and never paint.

Carrion Crow, Rook, Red-legged Partridge (?), Eurasian Magpie, Common Swift, Eurasian Oystercatcher, Eurasian Blackbird, Eurasian Blackcap.

Very vocal pair of Eurasian Kestrel – Kestrel parent and chick? 7.05 a.m.

Image description: a page from a notebook - the page is dyed and is cream with brown splotches on it. Written in black ink are lists of birds - these birds are listed below. At the bottom of the page is a rough sketch of a line of eight trees with their shadows spreading in front of them.

definitely at least two birds – they called loudly for three minutes, called sporadically after 7.10 a.m.

Western Yellow Wagtail (? I don’t think this is likely this far north), Sedge Warbler, Coal Tit, Dunnock nesting in hedge.

21.27 p.m. Back. Very wet, been raining heavily but fresh.

Song Thrush, Eurasian Skylark, Yellowhammer, Eurasian Blackbird, Common Wood Pigeon.

Thrush in fine, busy voice, carrying clearly over the field.

21.35 p.m. checked my emails – a poetry rejection. Must offer it up to the birds.

Eurasian Collared Dove, 21.36 p.m., to croon the shame away. Midges aplenty – perhaps I am too bitter, right now, to bite. Lone S/S/M (Swallow/Swift/Martin) above. Huge flock of gulls passing by 21.39 p.m., ID’d as Black-headed Gull, but I question that (turns out it was correct). Drip, drip, drip of the hedge behind me. The same set of circumstances but always somehow different.

Common Ringed Plover, 21.44 p.m. Grey clouds tinged with pink.
Eurasian Oystercatcher flying away SE too, like the gulls.

21.46 p.m. Huge flock, beautiful long trailing line of them (Eurasian Oystercatchers) vanishing past the turret tooth of Prudhoe Castle – heading off to roost? Perhaps they sleep in the castle and are the ghosts of knights past. Trapped damsels. Magicians.

Corvid 21.49 p.m. Blackbird leads the evensong, 21.51 p.m. Sudden downpour 21.52 p.m. 21.55 p.m., lone Oystercatcher flying over cottage alone, screaming in panic, left behind! Catch up!

8^th July, 5.47 a.m. Front. Bright, going to be hot.

European Goldfinch, European Robin, Eurasian Skylark, Eurasian Blackbird, Eurasian Wren, Common Wood Pigeon, Song Thrush, Eurasian Linnet, House Sparrow, Great Tit, Spotted Flycatcher, Common Chiffchaff.

I am watching a Blackbird at the top of the pine (?) tree – chi-chi-chi – opening up his wings in time with his calling.

Dunnock, Eurasian Blue Tit, European Greenfinch, Eurasian Siskin.

App not picking up the corvids, S/S/M in the sky.

Eurasian Jackdaw, Goldcrest, Eurasian Collared Dove, Carrion Crow.

6.09 a.m. Back. Sun low but becoming hot, searing bright (must learn compass points – one set of noticing requires others). Eurasian Magpie.

Cloudless, sunlight in an aura around the thistles, dewdrops sparkling on the nettles now high as my chest. I feel warmth spreading through me. Trees opposite casting long shadows. 6.19 a.m. end.

I end today’s article with a quote from a letter written by Emily Dickinson - it echoed into my heart and resonated deeply. This is one of the reasons I have begun to carve out this time for myself – an action which may appear to serve no purpose; will earn me no renown; may even seem a useless waste to some – time taken from “…all the moments crowding this little world…”* is giving me a reason to go on, giving me reasons to fight myself. When my head tells me I am worthless, useless and hopeless; when my body hurts so much that I feel I cannot stand it; when sleeplessness exhausts me; when the efforts one makes to be a writer seem to come to naught, I turn to nature and plead for its balm, its perspective, its restorative panpharmacon.

“…a separated hour, an hour more pure and true than ordinary hours, when we could pause a moment, before we journey on.” *

*Letter written by Emily Dickinson, August, 1851.

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