]]> http://wheresrhys.co.uk/2009/07/this-phoku-is-throwing-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater/feed/ 0 http://wheresrhys.co.uk/2009/05/vondel-birds/ http://wheresrhys.co.uk/2009/05/vondel-birds/#comments Thu, 14 May 2009 09:01:19 +0000 wheresrhys http://wheresrhys.co.uk/?p=511 I may or may not have mentioned before that, as well as being a programmer and a guitarist, I am also a birdwatcher.

Well, I was, though some people might take umbrage at that statement these days. I’m like the ‘dedicated’ football fan who never goes to see their team play. These days I’m not so much a birdwatcher as a bird-come-acrosser, but one day I hope to get back to dedicating some time most weeks to going out into the countryside and observing our avian friends, as it’s the most calming activity I know. I’ll be visiting Wales in the next few weeks and look forward to walking through woodland glades awash with warbled birdsong, and diving for cover from protective seabirds.

Yesterday in Vondelpark I was reminded of how wonderful birds are. When they do something eminently watchable the feeling is a bit like stroking a large dog; the contact with a simpler animal makes the complications of life drain away momentarily.

I was sat by one of the lakes next to a  willow tree (in a spot I can’t believe I hadn’t sat in before), reading my book, when along came a family of Egyptian Geese. The Egyptian Goose is neither goose nor duck; the body and head are all duck, but the legs and neck are distinctly goose-like. The now nine almost fully-grown chicks, with the fluffy down long-since pushed out by proper adult quills, were chaperoned from a distance by their parents, and hoped up onto the land to say hello, before dashing back into the water at the sound of a distant dog and actually diving beneath the water, something I’ve never seen them do before. After the panic had subsided I watched them running across the lake flapping their wings in a not-too-feeble flexing of their developing flying muscles.

Nature is a delightful thing.

ps – If you’ve wanted to comment on any posts, sorry about the comment form not working for goodness knows how long. And yes, I do appreciate the irony that someone wishing to comment on an article that railed against a debate that didn’t allow readers to respond was what alerted me to the fact that visitors were unable to post comments.