THE highlight of this spring’s birdsong has been more cuckoos calling than I’ve heard for years. Whether this is due to our success with the Larsen traps or self-control on the part of the Maltese and others, we can’t tell—probably a bit of both. However, it’s when birds squawk strange oaths at each other that spring is at its most interesting.
Yesterday, I was startled by the avian equivalent of two fishwives hurling insults across a street when a peregrine lumbered over my head. I know, peregrines don’t usually lumber, but this one had a bird almost as big as herself in her talons and she was yawing like a helicopter with an overweight underslung load as a crow attacked her, attempting to steal her prey.
The two disappeared into dead ground and I ran to see the fight. It looked as if the falcon had gone to ground to mantle over the kill, but, next, I saw the two of them spiral up in a dogfight. The air was thick with black feathers and the peregrine was clearly besting the bigger bird, which flew off in disgust. By good fortune, I had my binoculars and watched as she circled above the fields.
Denne historien er fra June 10, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra June 10, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
