Spectacular Epic Poems no.1 BIRDS-OF-PREY

I have finally got around to showing you the Spectacular Epic Poems!!! I have written so many there will have to be several parts. Spectacular Epic Poems no.2 OTHER BIRDS will come after Getting Started with Bird-Feeding 3.  Please comment on the Poems and give me ideas for new ones. Animal, vegetable, or fungus, but only native British species, and no protists or monerans(bacteria). I do NOT have an electron microscope!!!! This part will show you all of the Birds-of-Prey poems. There will be parts for Trees, Herbaceous Plants, Other Birds,  Beasts-of-Prey, Other Mammals, Insects and Arachnids, Marine Life/Amphibians, Reptiles, and Fungi. I promise you there is that many (more are being written all the time! In fact I am in the middle of one about the Brown Hare right now.) You will get to see every one. Even if I have already put up all of the subject parts and have another poem, I will just plonk it on the end of the next post. By the way, a new damson tree has been found just past the garden centre on Bartons Road. There is heaps of damsons on there so I don't mind telling you about this one. Anyway lets read poems! (Or write for me.)


Golden Eagle

Silently swooping

Suddenly looping

Spotted a partridge

Crouched on the ground.

Fixes her eyesight

Glint in the sun light

Splays out her wingtips

Don’t make a sound.

Partridge not seen her

Soar ever nearer

Got right above it

Ready to dive.

Close in your wings girl

Give it a nice twirl

Shoot through the sunset

Right on your prey.

Fly off with your meat

Now ready to eat

Take to your eaglets

Feel satisfied.

Glide off to your sky

Let out your war cry

You got to kill more

To feed your young.

Effort’s not wasted

Got to be tasted

Eaglets will love you

Their caring mum.

Golden Eagle has been published in Q.Q Press's Quantum Leap poetry magazine (My great-uncle is one of them.) I AM HAPPY!!! I got £12 for 6 (Golden Eagle, Kingfisher, Candle, Gannet, Stoat, and Hound of the Seas) 

Kestrel

I, the Kestrel,

I, the Windhover

Hangs in the air on my silent wings.

I, the Kestrel,

I, the Windhover

Waits in the sky as the Skylark sings.

I the Kestrel,

I, the Windhover

Dives on a vole in the long green grass.

I, the Kestrel, I the Windhover,

Stoops like an arrow and twice as fast.

I, the Kestrel, I the Windhover,

Tears up my prey in my blade-sharp bill.

I, the Kestrel, I the Windhover,

Must rest my wings and for once is still.

(Windhover is the country name for the Kestrel. It comes from the way the Kestrel "hovers" in flight, although it is only resting on a thermal.)

Sparrowhawk

Watching with her staring eyes,

Listening with her hidden ears.

Spots a titmouse in the bush,

Beats her wings with so much power.

Grabs the titmouse with her claws,

That is her, the Sparrowhawk.

Copyright Eleanor Woodcock 2011 and 2012 (AGAIN YOU ARE NOT STEALING MY POEMS!!!!!)

Warblington School is actually a very good place for birds. The courtyard is covered with Hawthorn and Firethorn (Pyracantha) trees. Loads of titmice come to feed there in flocks every day. A resident Sparrowhawk keeps the flock in check! She is an old female who's eyes have darkened to a blood-red colour! Just think, when she fledged, they were creamy-yellow. Check out the www.britishbirds.com  blog post about eye-colour in birds. It is strange but cool! That is it for Birds-of-Prey Poems. THERE WILL BE MORE!!!! I'm going to do a Peregrine and an Osprey poem soon. BYEE!!! Keep watching those birds, keep commenting about them, and keep giving me wildlife-for-poem-subjects suggestions!!!!! 

Farlington Marshes Visit (Sorry, no photos, but there is a video)

A few days ago, me, Nan and Dad went to Farlington Marshes to do some birdwatching, or I did the birdwatching, because dad knows nothing about birds. Epic day it was. Plenty of  "good" birds to see, as well as the usuals.  Scores of Redshank and Greenshank, lots of Coots and Moorhens, about five Little Egrets, loads of Wood Pigeons (Ring Doves), Collared Doves, Stock Doves and even a couple of Turtle Doves. There was a couple of Ringed Plovers, some Reed Warblers, and the usual Great and Blue Titmice, as well as Coal, Marsh and Long-tailed Titmice. No Willow Titmice though. There was a family of Mute Swans (two adults, six cygnets, probably very experienced parents, those two) on one of the water bodies, when the cob decided there was more water plants to eat on a different pond. He got out of the pond they were in, and made sure his family were coming with him. One of the cygnets was a runt, a lot smaller than it's siblings. It lagged behind a bit as they crossed the big piece of land before them. The pen stayed at the back to make sure none of the cygnets turned back. There certainly was a lot of Frogbit and Duckweed and many other waterplants in there! Every so often, the cob would come across a Redshank or a Little Egret or Coot of what ever, and hiss(sssssssss) and snap and curve his wings into a love-heart shape at them. Occasionally, he would beat his wings in the air (two metres of pure aggression ready to snap some bones) noisily. One of the cygnets seemed to like copying his (I'm guessing it was a he) father, clapping his bill and beating his wings. The cygnets were nearly as big as their mother, but still had the grey-brown juvenile plumage. The runt cygnet had a Spectacular Epic Fail and fell bill-over-big-rubbery-black-flippery-foot-things. Unfortunately, it was in the long grass when he/she fell over, and I could just see some black webbed plastic-like feet sticking out of the vegetation. I don't think my camera could zoom in far enough to catch the whole fail. Shame. It was so funny. But the cygnet lived up to his name. It was totally silent. After a long and clumsy waddle across a very wide space of dry land (or wet land because it was raining), the swan family finally reached their plant-laden pond destination. WELL DONE MUTE SWANS. There was loads more birds.

Other Birds:

Kestrels (two hens)
A trio of Oystercatcher
Tufted Duck
Shoveler duck (and drakes)
Pochard duck (and drakes)
Mallard duck (and drakes)
Mandarin Duck (and one drake)
Robins
Goldfinches
Greenfinches
Dunnocks (Hedge Sparrows to the annoying people)
Wrens

The birds were all too quick to get photos of, apart from the swans which I got an awesome video of.

Also, well done to all of Para GB's athletes for winning us those medals!

PS. Sorry little runt Mute Cygnet for embarrassing you by telling the whole world about your Spectacular Epic Fail. Sorry there hasn't been a Getting Started With Bird-Feeding 3 yet. (You have been waiting for a long time) and that I haven't shown you my Spectacular Epic Poems yet. Oh well, I will soon. (I am very lame at this aren't I?)

HERE ARE SOME LINKS WHICH YOU MAY LIKE TO LOOK AT:

www.blackredstarts.org.uk is a non-profit organisation that helps conserve the beautiful little Black Redstart that is now so rare.

www.britishwildboar.or.uk gives loads of information on and super-cute piglet footage of the British Wild Boar that became extinct for so long.

 www.birdsofbritain.co.uk is a fantastic web magazine with stunning photographs and the latest bird updates.

www.bou.org.uk (British Ornithologists' Society Online) has a great blog as well as loads of news on birds around the world. The IBIS journal is really interesting too.

www.britishspiders.org.uk has some freaky photos and interesting spidery news from the British Arachnological Society!

On further posts I may give you more links to other great websites.

Go to this link to see the swan video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5lA5yVbMzA&feature=plcp

Bye for now!

Random Wildlife Up Close

 Here are some random rather queer SEMs (Scanning Electron Micrographs) I found on the Internet!

All images Copyright Power and Syred MicroGraphs.

Please visit  http://www.psmicrographs.co.uk/ for more images.

Radiolarian protozoans all make different silica  shell.  They are like snowflakes.  No two are the same!

Pill Woodlouse

Rainbow Trout scale

Seven-spot Ladybird larva

Black garden Ant with Rose Aphid nymph

Blue-green Algae

Large Bindweed pollen

Chaffinch foot

Common Wasp head

Daisy pollen

House Dust Mite 

male House Spider mouth-parts (ARRRG!!! THIS IS SO FREAKY!!!!)

Large White butterfly larval spiracle

Atlantic Salmon scale

Scots Pine pollen

Swallow primary flight feather 

Water Vole hair

Whirligig head 

Strange aren't they? I find it EPIC that Man has created electron microscopes to view the amazing yet weird world of "mini-life". Thank-you to PS MicroGraphs for the images. There are many more on the website if you want to have a look. I promise my next post will be the Spectacular Epic Poems, and the next one will be Getting Started with Bird-Feeding 3. Good-bye, and keep watching those birds!