So if you are down to
get a mail shot each time I post a blog, this mid-week issue will come as a
surprise!!
But I have a cunning
plan.
A couple of weeks ago,
I had the inspiration to ask the family (Mary, Sarah and Michael…..oh and me)
what our earliest ever memory was. After
some deliberation, we came up with the following:-
Mary - she remembered when
she was about 3, lying in bed in between her sleeping Mum and an Aunty, and she
cut her Mum’s hair. She does not recall the consequences.
Sarah recalled when
she was about 3, she tripped backwards and burnt her legs in the coal fire. But
her vivid memory was the chocolates given to her by the nurse in hospital.
Michael remembers
sitting on a sideboard alongside his sister, for a family photo, and having to
wear a smart shirt which constantly make him itch.
Mine? I was about 4 or
5, and lived at Effiingham Rd in Bristol. I recall men coming along the road
with a sparking oxyacetylene torch, and cutting off all the iron railings to
use for the war.
This interesting
little exercise gave me the idea to ask YOU to do some recollecting!!!
It would be interesting to know which bird was the bird that got you
into birding. Which one gave you the taste and the inspiration, where did you
see it and when.
If you add a comment to this post, I can collate the replies and see
what we come up with.
All you have to do is click on “no comment” and put in whatever you want
to write. You can devise an anonymous name (like Slim Bridge has), or use your
own name as you prefer. (IF you are an overseas follower, please add your
country, city etc.)
I HOPE YOU WILL PARTICIPATE – IT WILL
BE INTERESTING TO KNOW WHAT GOT US INTO BIRDING
To give you some inspiration, I can recall 3 birds which got me started,
but I don’t know which was the first.
I watched a pair of Bullfinches stripping the buds on a miniature cherry
bush, whilst sitting at home with sciatica.
A work colleague, Ken Smith (who still goes birding at Beeley Moor near
Chatsworth), showed me a Spotted Flycatcher working off a handrail alongside
our offices in Darley Dale. He also
took me to a building contract for a new school at Matlock, to see the
Waxwings.
A typical internet benefit. Highfields School website states that the Matlock
school was built in 1982…ergo, I started birding in c1982.
I await your entries on my blog with interest.
Slim Bridge thought I'd better do this one as my memories pre-date his existence by some years.
ReplyDeleteI recall running into the dining room (at the age of 4), tripping over a hearth rug and splitting my head open on the hearth. Then being rushed to the doctor's to have wire (!) stitches inserted while his rather large wife held me down!
My earliest birding memory was equally unfortunate. While at St Edmund's primary school I was attacked by a Jackdaw. In those days I had startling blue eyes (he said modestly) and I was told later that the Jackdaw was going for one of my eyes! Fortunately reflexes kicked in and I blinked so only an eyelid was damaged. When my father said no, I couldn't have an air rifle I decided to take up bird watching instead.
Happy days!
My memorable bird experience was at a private house in 1965 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey with my Mum, and watching the birds on the feeders. I knew nothing about birds (and not a lot more now!), but I vividly recall the gorgeous deep green feathers with additional bright yellow feathers, that I was to come to know as Greenfinches.
ReplyDeleteOnly now appreciating how this species has suffered drastically from infection, makes the size of my group even more memorable.