All Creatures Great and Small

 The world around us.....

Enough of these shots of wildlife!  

OK.  This may be the last such for a while, but I have a sermon to preach, and these recent pics are relevant.....

Not just because I walk every day and carry a camera all the time.... Maybe because I love wisdom (or do I love sophistry?)

Anyway, in observing the world around me, I muse here and there about the present, the past, the future....

I watch birds, like the Red Kite (top) the female Black Cap in the Elderberries (above) and snap at insects, like this male Banded Demoiselle....

And this Common (I think) Darter.....

And this (toxic) Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar feasting on its beloved Ragwort.....

And it's fun to catch a glimpse of some of the more camouflaged denizens of this world, like this common Field Grasshopper (who has the ornate latin handle of Chorthippus brunneus)...

I wonder at their beauty and their form....  I love to see the glossy sheen of Corvids, with their raucous voices and bold behaviours (they don't like Kites or Buzzards and will mob them to protect their young)....

It's great to see the usual suspects - tits and wrens, robins and sparrows, starlings and, as here, a chaffinch or two.....

And I am thrilled sometimes to spot something less common, like these two LBJs (little brown jobs) that were twittering and squabbling just ahead of me the other day - too far and too quick for me to ask them to identify themselves at the time.....

I kinda (sic) thought we might have a Whitethroat here, but couldn't get the eye stripe. So I made enquiries of the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) who thought there was a Whinchat wanting to dislodge a Whitethroat from its perch. That may be the case, though I sort of think they may both be Whinchats (females).  But hey!  What's in a name?  (A rose would smell as sweet....)

Excuse me?  You said you had a sermon to preach?

I'm coming to it.....

Well, get on with it will you?  I've not got all day.....

OK. I don't see so many animals/mammals.  At least not live ones.  The occasional deer, maybe, and this confused Hoglet, who seemed to have lost its mum.....

It's the dead you notice.  And I don't mean roadkill....

This badger had probably been poisoned - it doesn't have natural predators, and it wouldn't have died of old age quite so obviously.....  The local gamekeeper is renowned for his eradication of threats to his game birds....  He shoots crows and poisons foxes, so, sadly, I think this chap may have met his end in a similar way....

Though quite what happened to this common shrew (Sorex araneus) I cannot guess.  It would appear that this was a brutal murder, but there's no sign of a blunt instrument.....

And your point is?

Hang on a minute.....

And look at this....

You really lost me now.  That's disgusting!  

No.  It's a little unpleasant to look at, but it's the way of nature.  Everything has its time, and then  it's recycled.  We may not like wasps and flies, but everything has its place, and part to play.

So what is your point?

OK.  It's simply this.  In all my walks I observe the turning world and I note that everything seems to me to have integrity.  I mean, birds, animals, insects, et al, all do what they are made to do.  There may be strategies, and there may be camouflages, but there's no deceit.  I expect I am naive in this, and experts may give examples of where I am wrong, but, for instance, the corona virus did not set out to ruin our world.  Just like ebola, and influenza, and leprosy and bubonic plague, it didn't set out to spoil our fun.

We are the plague that will destroy this world.  We are the makers of the new Mars.

You're nuts!

Not a bit!  I'll give you one more example. What words spring to mind when you see this picture?

I will give you a few suggestions: Ambition. Laziness. Deceit. Lust for power. Selfishness. Irresponsibility. Cowardice. Misjudgement. Nepotism. Confusion. Pride.....

Methinks you do protest too much.....

Just take those words and see if any of them apply to any of the creatures, alive or dead, that I have illustrated above this last.....

Errr, well....

So.  Who did kill cock robin?

The sparrow.

How do you know?

Well, he confessed.

You'll believe anything they tell you, won't you.....?

Is that a wasp in your mouth?  Or are you just pleased to see me?

And..... on with my walk.....

Some people think the sky is blue....

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

Alexander BPJ wants them all.....