We had a good day yesterday. The highlight was sitting in the new kitchen and looking out of the window to see the birdlife. A cormorant flying over to the local lakes. I’m tempted to try putting sardines in the bird feeders, but cormorants aren’t well known for visiting bird tables. I may try leaving some paper bags out. You never know, it might tempt them down.
Now, at this point many of you will be perplexed. All will be revealed if you follow the link. Others out there, who are familiar with the poem, might wonder why a well-respected author (except by Evelyn Waugh) should descend to this level of doggerel, particularly as the cormorant and shag are related, though not the same bird.
Waugh wasn’t a fan of Isherwood. Having put his affairs in order in 1939 and made sure that his family would be financially secure in the event of his death, Waugh went to war. Isherwood and Auden went to America. Waugh was critical of their decision but I can’t quote it because I (a) can’t remember it and (b) he used a word that modern readers would find upsetting. He also mocked them as the poets Parsnip and Pimpernel “bravely opposing fascism from New York” in Put Out More Flags.
Red Kite
Waugh is a bit like Roald Dahl in many ways – brilliant but unpleasant. Their views may be dated and repellent to today’s sensibilities, but when it was necessary. I feel a quote from Kipling coming on, but will resist.
However, I digress.
As we chatted and marvelled that we had just seen a cormorant from the kitchen window, another shape wheeled above us. large bird, soaring in the sky, pronounced elbows in the way it held its wings and a V notched into the end of its tail. Red Kite! I’ve seen them over Peterborough, but this was right over my new garden.
It was a very cheering sight.
Red Kites in Wales – feeding time
