Unfortunately neither of us had any time to do any wildlife watching today, and so – as I was doing various bits of work at home – I reflected a little on the wildlife year so far and, because of the date, on life in general: The date is significant because it would have been my Dad’s 85th birthday. He introduced me to birdwatching, as I’ve mentioned previously, and would have loved the fact that I’m doing this blog. Going to the Holme reserve yesterday was interesting as this was pretty well the first place I visited when I started birding; part of a weekend in north Norfolk with Dad and a couple of his friends.
As Douglas Adams once wrote “time is an illusion”. It is certainly a strange phenomenon, never seeming to run at the same speed and yet going by with an inevitable certainty. I have – as I may have mentioned (I can’t remember) – a very bad memory. Yet when I look back over the last 50 years (damn, that sounds like a lot!) some events seem still absolutely clear, and most of these are either music or wildlife related: Not unexpected I guess, but I still find it slightly odd that I can remember exactly where I was and how I felt when I saw, for instance, my first red-breasted merganser or my first whinchat (which was at Holme on that first weekend trip).
On Tuesday of this week Brenda’s mother died. She was 92. When my Dad died he was 73. In July I’ll be 60. I don’t want to appear unduly morbid, but if I only live as long as my father then 13 years feels like a very short amount of time to have left. But if I get to be 90 then I’ve still got a third of my life in front of me…..and that doesn’t sound too bad!
But whatever happens it’s those memorable moments doing the things we enjoy that really have meaning.
No new species for May 13th:
TOTALS TO DATE:
Birds = 189
Moths = 39
Wildflowers = 78