Casting My Vote

I've just been to cast my vote in the referendum concerning our voting system. Shall we have "first past the post" or "the alternative vote" system? I've listened to the false claims and downright lies of both sides and have concluded that we have a clear choice between
  a) something we don't really like and
  b) something we don't really trust

Just like a General Election then, except that we are deprived of the usual choice c), and sometimes d), e), f) and g), namely someone we don't really think will win anyway.

The hub of democracy - aka the village hall

Apparently the main argument for "first past the post" is that we've always done things that way and look what fine fellows have been running the country up to now. The argument against it is much the same. 

The main reason for voting for AV is that we'd really like Proportional Representation but we ain't gonna get it, no way. While the main argument against AV is that they use a similar system in Australia and end up being led by chaps called Kevin. Now that is one risk you're never going to have if we stick with the monarchy.

No one can tell me what difference, if any, a change will make to the outcome of an election, but I suspect from the lack of real urgency from any of the parties that it won't change things very much.

Anyway I made my cross with the pencil provided and had a nice chat outside in the sunshine with some of my neighbours who were also exercising their democratic right. So my time wasn't wasted.

Take care.
        

Swanwatch (2)

Sitting tight

I'm pleased to report that our swan is still sitting on her eggs which she will need to do for 36 days before they hatch out. Meanwhile the male guards the nest against all intruders. I think all those stories one hears about swans breaking arms must stem from people who got too close to the nest. Even so it sounds pretty unlikely to me. We did have a "rogue male" just north of Cambridge who took his paternal duties to extremes and used to chase rowing eights who were practising on that stretch of river. But mostly, even at nesting time swans are a benign and graceful presence on our lakes and waterways.

Guard duty

Males and females ("cobs" and "pens" respectively) pair up for life and, as far as is known, lead pure and blameless lives. They build the nest together - the cob collecting material which the pen builds into a nest and when the young hatch they look after them tenderly, passing them choice pieces of weed until the cygnets get the idea of finding food for themselves. Although they are known as "Mute Swans" they do make occasional low grunts and quiet whistling sounds but never kick up such an unseemly cacophony as geese are liable to do.

And how do we reward them for their excellent example. Well, until recently pretty diabolically. They were notionally all owned by the King or Queen, which while it protected them from the peasant classes, meant that the nobles could do much as they pleased. What pleased them was to pinion them to prevent them flying off, cut nicks in their beaks and feathers to mark them and eventually to consume them. Henry III is supposed to have ordered 351 swans for Christmas dinner - he must have had quite a party, we're talking about 3 tons of meat here! In the modern era we poisoned hundreds of swans by using lead fishing weights, which are now thankfully illegal.

So sit tight, Mrs Swan and, I hope,we'll have happier news to report soon.

Take care.

All The Fun Of The Fair

Off to Royston today with some of the  young people I look after to join in with their "Fun Day". We try to make every day of the year a fun day for them but apparently the poor people of Royston only have one a year so we went to show them how it was done!

Vintage cars

Local Big Band - Opus 14

Acrobats

Ice cream van - always popular

Let me have a lick!

Everyone had a great time. But tomorrow it's back to school!

Take care.

May Day

"When Spring comes on, the birds do sing,
The lambs do skip and bells do ring,
While we enjoy their glorious charm,
So noble and so gay."

Thus runs the traditional English folksong "The Spring Glee".  And this morning, May Day, many a Morris side was up to dance in the dawn. The custom nearly died out during the last century but bands of enthusiasts up and down the country now gather to "keep up the day" and dance the old dances. Ask why they dance and you're liable to get any answer from "...to respect an ancient pagan fertility rite..." to "..I'm only here for the beer".

In the old days it was traditional to have seeding-time finished by May and the men would be given the day off work, they then amused and entertained themselves in any way they could - dancing, singing, various races, eating and drinking - and gradually different areas developed their own local traditions.

"Come you young men, come along,
With your music dance and song,
Bring your lasses by the hand,
For 'tis that which love commands.
Then to the Maypole haste away,
For 'tis now a holiday"

Maypole dancing, cheese rolling, Jack-in-the-green, the Padstow 'Obby 'Oss all take place on or around May Day. More recently a modern May Day tradition has grown up where "bikers" ride down to the coast on the holiday weekend. The basic motivation seems to be the same - to shake off the winter blues and have some fun.

"It was in the pleasant month of May,
At the springtime of the year,
And down by yonder meadow
There runs a river clear"

Though there are songs bemoaning the fate of the agricultural labourer they are few and far between. Most of the songs speak of contentment and joy which is perhaps surprising given the appalling conditions which agricultural workers endured. Surprising, that is, unless you've lived and worked among the descendants of these country people who have an almost Zen-like calm and stoicism about them "That's the way things is and bain't nothin' we can do to change 'em". It must have been their acceptance of the status quo that allowed the monarchy to survive as long as it has. Not that these men couldn't be stubborn and awkward when it suited them, (we did get rid of the king once remember, only to find that the alternative was just as unpalatable),but mostly they just bided their time and quietly tried to turn things to their advantage. But in the meantime they might as well have some fun and sing of the good times.

It always strikes me as ironic that May Day then has also become International Workers' Day.for while these sons of the soil would have concurred with the feelings of solidarity and brotherhood nothing could have been further from their minds than revolution.

"Unite and unite and let us all unite,
For summer is acome unto day,
And whither we are going we will all unite,
In the merry morning of May."

Take care.

Photo-stack - Light On The Land

(click on any image to enlarge it)

 

                            

Key to Photos

Sunrise near Meldreth

The Wash, Norfolk                             

Midwinter Amwell, Herts
 Thetford Forest, Norfolk

Reedbed, Wicken Fen

  Stormclouds, North Norfolk

Berry Fen, Cambs

Kings Lynn docks                            

Cambridgeshire Fens

 Take Care.                                                                                                

Pictures on my wall (3)



This photo hangs on my bedroom wall and so is one of the first things I see every morning. Despite its idyllic charm it's actually the site of old gravel workings. There is a series of flooded gravel pits which has been turned into a nature reserve and provides a lovely place to amble around and quietly take in the wonder of the natural world (or, more accurately, the way that nature has healed the scars of industrial exploitation).

Paxton Pits, as the reserve is known, was the place that re-awakened my interest in things ornithological. I'd been walking on Northumberland coast one Christmas and saw lots of winter migrants which I'd not encountered before. On my return I made a trip to Paxton and was amazed to see unfamiliar birds that were there to be discovered "on my doorstep". Of course it looks a little different in winter.

Bird's eye view

Incidentally, have you noticed how often birds line themselves up exactly side on to the camera? The reason is, I presume, that, having eyes at the side of their heads, this is the way that a bird stands to get a good look at you. They're keeping an eye on you.

Now the other day I was watching a Lapwing, one of a nesting pair, that  was doing exactly this; standing sideways on to a hide where people were watching. It soon became clear that he'd positioned himself exactly in a spot where he could not only keep an eye on us, but could also keep his other eye on the nest site. Cunning, hey?

It also occurred to me that some of those notoriously difficult-to-spot species might just be using their other eye to check on the background they are seen against so that they blend into scene more effectively.

Wreckless, Death-defying Snails

I took this picture a while back and have been wondering what to do with it. So I've decided to inflict it on you.

Take care.(yourselves and the snails).