{"id":6330,"date":"2015-05-26T07:23:09","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T07:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=6330"},"modified":"2015-05-26T07:23:09","modified_gmt":"2015-05-26T07:23:09","slug":"on-hearing-cettis-warbler-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2015\/05\/26\/on-hearing-cettis-warbler-for-the-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"On hearing Cetti's warbler for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The RSPB<\/a> says that Cetti's warbler is a\u00a0small nondescript bird which skulks around, keeping out of sight. \u00a0This may be a sound survival strategy. \u00a0It has\u00a0bred here since\u00a01973. \u00a0Gary Mantle mentioned it in one of his recent\u00a0blog<\/a> posts. \u00a0It has a cheery song.<\/p>\n

I heard it the other day deep in\u00a0the Wiltshire countryside. \u00a0Needless to say, I did not see\u00a0it. \u00a0I did, however, see a rare bird at the same place. \u00a0Well, to be more exact, I saw (through field glasses) what might have been a bundle of beige feathers set against a similarly\u00a0beige background. \u00a0It may (or may not) have moved. \u00a0I confess to being rather un<\/em>moved. \u00a0That is, I was just as happy to know that the bird was there, as I was to see it. \u00a0This probably explains why I don't dash round the West Country whenever some exotica flies in; I am as happy to know, as to see. \u00a0Anyway, I much prefer my birds to come to me, which is why we garden with birds (butterflies, etc) in mind, and why it is so wonderful when 'our'\u00a0fieldfares return every year.<\/p>\n

I do\u00a0sometimes momentarily regret that I don't know many\u00a0different bird calls; and, whilst I can tell a pheasant from a blackbird, differentiating, say, a chiff chaff from a willow warbler is quite beyond me. \u00a0But this is the tyranny of naming; the idea that we can only really appreciate something if we can name and categorise it. \u00a0I often think about this problem when I come across a wild flower that I admire but cannot identify, and this, in turn, usually\u00a0reminds me of Henry Reed's second world war poem: Naming of Parts<\/em>, even though the poem's point is quite another one ...<\/p>\n

Today we have naming of parts. \u00a0Yesterday,<\/em>
\n We had daily cleaning. \u00a0And tomorrow morning,<\/em>
\n We shall have what to do after firing. \u00a0But today,<\/em>
\n Today we have naming of parts. \u00a0Japonica<\/em>
\n Glistens like coral in all the neighboring gardens,<\/em>
\n And today we have naming of parts.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is the lower sling swivel. \u00a0And this<\/em>
\n Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,<\/em>
\n When you are given your slings. \u00a0 And this is the piling swivel,<\/em>
\n Which in your case you have not got. \u00a0The branches<\/em>
\n Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,<\/em>
\n Which in our case we have not got.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is the safety-catch, which is always released<\/em>
\n With an easy flick of the thumb. \u00a0And please do not let me<\/em>
\n See anyone using his finger. \u00a0You can do it quite easy<\/em>
\n If you have any strength in your thumb. \u00a0The blossoms<\/em>
\n Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see<\/em>
\n Any of them using their finger.<\/em><\/p>\n

And this you can see is the bolt. \u00a0The purpose of this<\/em>
\n Is to open the breech, as you see. \u00a0We can slide it<\/em>
\n Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this<\/em>
\n Easing the spring. \u00a0And rapidly backwards and forwards<\/em>
\n The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:<\/em>
\n They call it easing the Spring.<\/em><\/p>\n

They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy<\/em>
\n If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt,<\/em>
\n And the breech, the cocking-piece, and the point of balance,<\/em>
\n Which in our case we have not got; and the almond blossom<\/em>
\n Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards,<\/em>
\n For today we have the naming of parts.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Henry Reed<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The RSPB says that Cetti's warbler is a\u00a0small nondescript bird which skulks around, keeping out of sight. \u00a0This may be a sound survival strategy. \u00a0It has\u00a0bred here since\u00a01973. \u00a0Gary Mantle mentioned it in one of his recent\u00a0blog posts. \u00a0It has...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}