When I was a very new mother I left Harry in his pram outside the newsagent as I bought my daily paper. I left Fred, our family dog on guard. Lost in my chat to the sales lady who had just lost her husband to a sudden heart attack I left the shop, took Fred’s lead in hand and set off home. 200 yards later I felt something was missing!
As I sat by the lake yesterday evening two birds passed overhead. A mother bird enjoying the sunlit evening flew smoothly across to the trees on the far shore. Her baby supposedly following in her wake fluttered frantically behind, ran out of ‘lift’ and crash landed amidst the Canada geese family. Even at a distance I could see his red faced embarrassment as he struggled into the air again. Totally disorientated he flew back towards me and landed on the deck railing just two metres away. This fluffy, bedraggled little kingfisher then bemoaned his mother’s negligence. So I told him my story of forgetting my son. After he had recovered his composure and dried out he thanked me and managed to fly to a higher branch some yards away where he called forgivingly for his mum who then arrived to hug her offspring after first giving him a feathered clip round the earhole.
And now this morning as I fed the fish, a cobalt blue dragonfly joined me on my hand and together we watched the other dragonflies dance over the water. I so so love this Nature business.
Lynden Carter 