Animal Magic

I have been trying to think of memories.....

As a kid, I didn't really fit at school. I was often the one in the playground by myself. I remember I used to spend a lot of time on the edge of the playground. There was a steep bank covered in grasses and I used to stand there and catch crickets. I would hold them in my cupped hands and peek at them for a bit before letting them go. I was no older than seven.

At my next school, I used to catch tadpoles. Gently cupped in handfuls of water before being released.

I remember a holiday with F. We went to Lanzarote and there was a swarm of locusts there. We found them in a high hanging valley. At the hanging end, there was a steep drop off, which the road zig zagged down. The locusts were bright pink and the swarm was flying off this drop off. I can't really describe the sight....

Another moment of insect awe occurred on an Autumn day, walking across wet grass at school. Every step caused a cloud of daddy long legs to take flight......

I remember one time at a beach as a kid - I was picking up handfuls of sand. I was most surprised to find one handful of sand contained a flat fish. A little tiny fish. I was in awe for a little while before I let it go. I spent the rest of our time on the beach looking for another one.

My folks were bell ringers and I spent a lot of time in churches. One time I was poking around in a dusty forgotten corner. It was dusk. I found a collection of flower arranging materials in a corner. There was a large glass vase. In the bottom there was a patch of furry mould. Being the sort of child I was, I picked up the mould. I was very, very startled when it moved and a head appeared. It sat there a while before picking itself up and flying off. Not many people get to hold a bat I guess.

My parents house is in the country. There used to be an old lean too conservatory, with a vine in it. Our old collie was an outdoor dog and he had a bed in there, amongst the bikes and other things. The door was always open. Sometimes birds would fly in. I would go and catch them in my hands, carry them outside and release them.

One time I was sat in my room and I could hear a lot of tweeting, very loud tweeting. I went to my parents room and looked out there open window. I could see a blue tit in the tree opposite and it was very intent on the hosue. There was still a lot of loud tweeting. I eventually realised that there was a blue tit in the bedroom too... I caught it and let it out the window where it rejoined it's mate and they flew off together....

Another time I was walking on the beach and I came face too face with a seal. Another I was walking in a wood at dusk (not for the cowardly) and a badge crossed my path, pausing to look at me. Magpies walk next to my car and look at me. Another, walking through maram grass on some dunes, I had an encounter with an adder (the UK's only poisonous snake), we both paused and stared before going our separate ways. Walking with F, we spotted a beautiful copper slow worm on the path and watched it for some time. I remember finding a newt by the sand pit - it had been a pond but my folks didn't like the idea of a pond with us young kids around, I never saw one there again. I used to watch the squirrels on the lawn whenever our science lessons got too dull. We sometimes go to the country park and feed the ducks and the squirrels. i love the feel of their little claws.

So many of my best memories it seems are tied up with animals. So much of what I remember. I remember doing a rain dance at school to get worms to come to the surface. I remember moving the logs in the back garden to see which insects had been making their homes there. I remember peeking at birds nests. I remember watching the bats dancing in the darkening sky above me. I remember listening to the hunting owls call in the orchard as I lay in bed. Watching the woodpeckers feed.....

I rode horses and worked at the local stables. I walked our dogs, long ranging walks, from our front door out into the English countryside. I joined the Young Farmers Club, a youth organisation for the country and competed in stock juging with them. I spent a lot of time looking at cows, sheep and pigs. There was a cow that followed me around, pigs that nibbled your feet and a cat that sat on my shoulder all the time I spent in the farm yard.

Did other children catch crickets? Did other children catch birds? Handle bats? Revel in clouds of insects? Why are these little moments the ones I recall so clearly? Why have I never realised this before?