More Comments Please and Don't Panic!!!!!!

Hello folks, I see there has been a lack of comments the last few days, I suppose everyone is busy, but still you could just say 'hi' so I know you all still exist!

A lovely sunny, warmish day. I saw my friend Alice, she cooked me lunch then we went for a drive and for the second time drove past Chartwell and didn't stop (and I really want to go there!), lots of daffodils on the banks and gambling lambs in the fields, makes me want to be in the West country. Such a lovely time of year and I'm missing it in the city!

All the coverage on the news about the dead swan found in Fife, start with. . ."Don't panic, Don't panic!!!!!" Well, I am panicking a little bit, not because of the threat to human life (we're all going to destroy ourselves soon anyway) but for the poor birds. The last thing we want is a repeat performance of foot and mouth, already the 'angels of death' are slaughtering birds in Germany (though this time they're all wearing orange not white!) and people are putting their poultry inside for a precaution and I'm sure mass panic has already started, pictures of vehicles and people being sprayed down with disinfectant. I wasn't in Devon when the outbreak of foot and mouth started but I was in Hampshire where there was burning in the air from hundreds of pyres and the stench of disinfectant wafting through the towns and villages, it was not a nice time and I don't think anyone would like to go through that again. At least there is a vaccination for the birds, but there was one for the animals 5 years ago but it was termed as 'too costly' to inject millions of animals. I do not agree with that. My friends lost their milk herd, over 100 strong, healthy cattle who didn't even have the disease anyway and MAFF (DEFRA now) didn't have a clue whose animals were killed or not. Within 3 days after they were all slaughtered they had a phonecall from them saying that their animals were safe and not needed to be killed!!!! Disgusting! All the employees couldn't speak a word of English either. Disorganised bunch of twats! So hopefully they've learnt their lesson, but there's never was an inquiry into the negligence, into the sheer stupidity and the slap dash way they handled the outbreak, the government (Blair. . .Go to hell) applauded them for their swift, organised, efficient work! Actually, come to think of it, DEFRA haven't learnt their lesson, remember when I told you about the dead badger on my friends farm? How they wanted nothing to do with it? There was an opportunity to test the badger for TB, without causing harm, stress or upset to the creature because it was already dead (I think I already said that . . .). Oh hell, bloody world, why can't all us humans be wiped out tomorrow and let the flora and fauna take over, my God, it'll be paradise!

Ok, enough of that.

Though back to the birds, as I promised yesterday, my favourite bird calls, the sounds of Spring and Summer: Click the blue for their sounds

Collared Dove (who sings, "United, united, united"!)

Cuckoo (Last one I heard was in Perthshire, Scotland in June 2005 by a Loch, called Lassintuloch, when the sun was going down)

Green Woodpecker (we have a few around here, they like urban areas but mainly heathland, they are called the 'yaffle')

Song Thrush (one of this countries greatest singers! Although they do have a tendency to start belting out at 4am, waking all and sundry up. . .Including me!)

Mistle Thrush (often called the 'Storm Cock' as it sings before it storms!)

Willow Warbler (tiny birds, very hard to spot, but a lovely, sweet tinkey sound)

Chiffchaff (When this bird sings, you know it's Spring!)

Wood Warbler (Beautiful, soulful bird)

Yellowhammer (by far the loveliest bird, my dads' favourite and a special farmland bird in Devon, high summer, singing amongst the Scots Pine or on the telegraph poles).

Ok, now I'm going to rant some more about people, well, some people I've seen the last few days who have no idea or who are not aware of the beauty around them. Ok, it's fine to say "Oh I do love this time of year" but no-one appreciates why. I have to stop dead in my tracks if I hear a Song Thrush or Blackbird, while the people I'm with walk on by. I have to take pictures of blossom or daffodils, celandine growing in the hedgerows, I have to spend time in the fields in Devon taking in all the wondrous flora and fauna right under my very nose!!!! I feel so fortunate and so excited by Spring, for example, I saw my first ants this year a week ago!!! Oh Spring and then Summer. . .The high Summer months of July and August, the heat hazes and the last sunsets and everything overgrown to the point where it's almost impossible to drive down the single track lanes without the bramble scrapping your car! I'm there right now.

Last thing before I bore you all still further, for those of you reading who were with me at KIAD, I've just found out that the highly publicised Turner contemporary Gallery in Margate has been scrapped. Kent County Council have pulled the plug after a decade of planning. The costs have spiraled out of control, starting at £7 million to £50 million! They feel the design is wrong and the site is too dangerous for the valuable pieces of work that were going to be housed there. Apparently the test structure they did not so long ago was blown over into the sea within two days!!!!

Ok, more random pictures tomorrow.

Goodnight, God bless and I love you all (will love you further if you appreciate my birds and comment too!!!!)

Emy xxx