norman's website
  • Home
  • Blogs
    • Scraps of life blog
    • Creative Academic >
      • BYOD4L BLOG
    • Garden Notes
  • Books
  • Change
  • Creativity
  • Professional services
  • Contact me
  • luminate
  • OU employability
  • Qinghai
  • CISC
  • NTU
  • creativejam
  • CRC
  • GMIT
  • BNU STUDY VISIT
  • AIT
  • portsmouth
  • DIT
  • TLC
  • BERA
  • ICOLACE4
  • PDP
  • OUC
  • MMUni
  • Derby
  • dmucreatives
  • Chester
  • Brighton
  • Buckinghamshire
  • Hallam
  • St Marys
  • LIMERICK
  • kingston
  • UWL
  • SEDA
  • MACAO
  • Beijing
  • IFIUT
  • CRA seminar
  • FBSEworkshop
  • birmingham
  • Creativity in Higher Education
  • graduatestandardsprogramme
  • MAKING MEANING
  • Untitled
  • Blogs
  • SURVEY
  • bits and bobs
  • roger
  • GARDEN PARTY

Surviving the first few weeks

26/5/2021

0 Comments

 
This week brought home just how tough it is for animals to survive the first few days after birth. On Monday we noticed a deer in the field and my daughter spotted two tiny heads in the long grass. The next day I only spotted one fawn being suckled and then three days later the doe was by herself. 
This year has been unusual for the Canada geese. Because of the turf wars I mentioned in a previous post the dominant pair did not start their laying routines until late into April and it wasn't until this week- the last week of May, that we spotted some goslings. I thought I counted 5 from a distance but the next day there were only 4 and now 4 days after hatching there are only 3. This is most unusual as rarely have we witnessed a pair of geese loosing any of their fledglings. We suspect that it might be the forst time that the pair have tried to rear chicks as they seem less attentive than we have witnessed before.
Picture
One week later there were three goslings and after two weeks there were only two goslings. On June 8th left and that evening sitting in the garden I heard the plaintive cry of a lone goose. I looked to find the mother and her two goslings but they had vanished. Whether they had all been taken or the chicks were taken and the mother just left because she had no reason to stay I will never know. But it is the first time in all the years we have been here that we have witnessed such a loss - 5 goslings in two weeks. We can only speculate that the goslings were taken by either the fox that has been quite present this last few days or a heron that has also been ever present. We also think the parents were not as attentive as we have witnessed in the past.
​
This is the last film clip I have of the family. The garden is strangely quiet today. The geese are such an important part of our annual cycle of life that their absence creates a silence and a loss that seems unnatural - yet such events are as much a part of the natural order as the more prevalent celebrations of life.

May 26 - Today I witnessed a family of magpies - some of whom were too young to fly back into the tree and they were stuck o the ground until they worked out how to get on to the top of the 6 ft fence and thence into the tree. I have no reason to believe that they did not all survive but had there been a predator they would have been eaten I'm sure.
Picture
To end this sorry tail my wife was photographing some deer when a fox ran past with a baby rabbit in his mouth. The picture is blurred but it tells the story of the dangers of being young.

It strikes me that surviving the first few days re and weeks quires a good dose of luck and some helpful and competent parents.

POST SCRIPT 11/06/21
Looking out of the window this morning we spotted a deer with her fawn running across the garden. So perhaps this animal baby was both lucky and has a competent caring parent. 
​
0 Comments
    PATHWAYS DIARY
    In March 2023 I began an experiential inquiry called Pathways to a Sustainable Future and many of my posts between March-September were written for this project.
    ​Diary Starts Here

    Garden Notes
    My garden is much more than a garden. Its playground, a studio for my artistic efforts, a natural laboratory for experiments and learning and a place for contemplation. It keeps me busy and gives me the exercise I need to keep fit, although it does damage me from time to time. But more than anything else it gives me pleasure, happiness and a sense of belonging and of doing something useful and worthwhile when I am immersed in it. It enables me to express myself creatively and draws my attention to the beauty and ecology of life. In this blog  I am telling the story of my garden and my involvement and experiences in it through my writing and the photos, movies, music, paintings and other artefacts - it inspires me to create. I have become more conscious of the UNs Sustainable Development Goals and our important role in enabling their achievement my experiments and projects in the natural world show how I respect and try to understand nature and try to enable life to flourish. I know that one day I will not be the custodian of this beautiful landscape we call our home. I must make the most of it now and preserve its presence in my memory knowing that it will carry on long after I am gone and that someone else will care for it and call it their home.
    In March 2022 I joined a group of environmental activists in my village and so I have decided to expand my blog to take in the natural world around me.  

    Picture
    Useful Links
    RE Betchworth
    Wildlife Garden Forum
    Surrey Wildlife Trust 
    Habitat Network
    Plant Identification UK
    ​GAIA
    ​
    GOOGLE EARTH
    ​




    Archives

    December 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed