Tuesday 19 May 2009

ducks at the ex-island

No photo this time as my blog is about dusk - My friend and I sat at the riverbank and watched the ducks' confusion as they swam and flew about the sad few tufts and stones that still stick out of the river where the island has been (the digging hasn't yet completely finished). The saddest of all was the fact that there was only a single duckling among them. Just the one. Its mum was leading it here and there around the place where presumably their nest would have been, but the river was flowing over it and so the whole effort was futile. My companion remarked how last year we watched from the same place whole families - trains of 6-9 ducklings each following their mums into the tall grasses of the island of an evening.
We also saw tonight the pair of ex-resident wagtails, also confused. Only the local blackbird sat atop the church spire singing his heart out as if nothing was amiss :-)

We then went upstream and saw not a single duckling, let alone a family of ducklings anywhere. Might be able to take some photos tomorrow when it's daylight, but for now I just had to write down what I saw. Oh, well, maybe I am being sentimental, maybe this is such a small thing in the whole scheme of things and the world of course goes on - but I have to say that my blood boils. After all it's the little things that, put together, make the world what it is. And by our interfering with it we all carry the responsibility for changing it for better or worse, aren't we. I am so sorry we failed in our efforts to save the island, really am.

4 comments:

Thud said...

It may be a small thing but it is as important as any of the supposedly greater issues that beset us.

LHA said...

It genuinely breaks my heart to hear about this. I know they're "just birds" and they'll figure out a new place to live soon enough, but the fact that people purposely ruined their home really irritates me. I suppose the most you can do is make sure you take them lots of seed and bread to eat, so they stay strong and full.

salamander said...

Thank you for your support,
Salamander

Anonymous said...

This post has brought me to tears. Very moving tribute to a fragile bit of life; and aren't all of us just that?

Morgan, Oberlin USA