Lovely post, thanks. I haven't heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker yet this year and by this time most years I have done. Jays for me are generally a very elusive bird, but I had a wonderful encounter last year with five Jays in one clearing along my favourite riverside walk. I love Starlings too, and a couple of winters ago, they murmurated across the road from our flat every winter night. The sad thing about that was that their original roost of a small woodland had been entirely chopped down to make way for a cyclepath.
I am new to the Lev community and I very much liked the writing here, particularly about the geese.
This said I am really offended by the use of the C-word in the description of the starlings' imagined dialogue. Why use very offensive terminology like that? Everything could have been conveyed using other vocabularly.
I don’t really like the c word but Lev has the right to use whatever vocabulary he likes: it’s his newsletter. Also, you’d better not look up what kestrels used to be called. OK, I’ll tell you. Windfuckers. And a heron was a shitecrow.
Cathy, Peter. Firstly, thanks for reading and for taking the trouble to comment – it’s always appreciated.
I don’t want to get all highfalutin about it, but here’s what I think.
Writers try to find the right words. It’s difficult, and I get it wrong all the time. On this occasion, though, I’m happy with my choice. It is, as Melissa says, what the starling said in my imagined scenario. And it is the right word. Alternatives – fool, idiot and so forth – would have failed to capture the earthy forthrightness that prevails in the heart of the murmuration – the starlings’ equivalent to the locker room, if you like. I suppose I might have gone for a comical olde-style exchange on the lines of ‘Zounds, Sir, this time you go too far! I demand satisfaction! ‘Fie, Sir, you are a lack-brain and a dunderhead.’ etc etc. Or perhaps a bit of humorous repetition: ‘You what, mate?’ ‘You heard.’ ‘Yeah?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Yeah?’ ‘You heard.’ And so forth.
But I didn’t. I presented the exchange as it appeared to me at the time, and I stand by it.
This also raises the intriguing question of offence. Our lovely feathered friends get up to all sorts of things that would make a bishop blush: gang rape (mallards), ménages à trois (dunnocks), murder and mayhem (just about all of them). I find that fascinating, not offensive.
One final point, then I’ll shut up.
Given that I like this place to be a refuge from the harsh realities of the world at large, the one bit of this post I considered omitting was the (admittedly oblique) reference to the world’s richest man making a Nazi salute – a notion far more offensive to my mind than any ‘rude’ word. But it set the context for the rest of the piece, so I kept it in. I hope that was the right thing to do.
Thanks for getting back in such detail! It is most definitely your column as someone said, but it is surely useful for you to hear and respond to reader feedback, as you do. - for which many thanks.
I am talking about a word of specific offence to women - maybe not all, but some - and that matters, and this is what distinguishes it from other words that you may have chosen. (I believe you would not dream of using words that offend people of different ethnicities, or ability.) So why would it not matter if a word is abusive to women?
I do not feel that the charge of offence relates at all to the bird world because they cannot be offended in the remotest by our varied perceptions of their behaviours. We are not talking about the same thing at all here. And I am not offended to know that "abusive" terminology was used for birds in the past (such as white-arse - wheatear) or those cited above. But I would be offended if abusive words were coined today for specific bird species, because that takes away from the magic and mystery of the bird.
I agree with Cathy. Why use profanities in a lovely homage to birds. The world can be a tough place and a lovely gentle article about our feathered friends doesn’t deserve to be debased by locker room language. Peter
Part of me wants to set you up with an account so you can put these posts up on Encounter. But part of me is scared you'd use the word 'cunt'. Although tbh it is perfect here 👌🏼
I missed having bird chat on Sunday. Although I have no regrets about spending my toddle round the block with the dog stream of consciousnessing words to describe the bird life we encountered as we toddled so I could write about it when I got home. Maybe I'll make bird-brain-beat-poetry my own Sunday thing from now on.
I have just come to the end of Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear. I loved it. I was especially grateful to read about your love of swearing. I had been experiencing some shame about the dedication I requested you write, but now I know the filthy words you utter every time you see a Buzzard I feel better about it!
I also loved reading this post. (Not the bit about magic because I hate magicians but all the rest of it. Man, nature is my magic.) Those visualisations of bird song remind me of my student days listening to music on windows media player and putting the visualiser on randomisation mode. And they also remind me of what happens whenever I get my watercolours out to paint a thing but end up just playing drippy droppy splishy sploshy with them instead.
Yes sorry about missing Sunday. Things got on top of me. I am now, I think, on top of them, so with any luck normal service will be resumed this weekend. And I’m so glad you enjoyed Why Do Birds… filth and all.
No apology necessary. I don't know how you find the time to write all these things. I'm especially in awe now that I've had a go at writing about my own Six Things. It took me a whole week and I'm still recovering!
I absolutely love your writing, including any words you choose or deem appropriate. I used to feed my garden birds but the food invariably attracts vermin. So I stopped. Aaaaaarrrrgh 👀😁
The late Senior Cat (aka my father) would have been fascinated by the "Magic" article. On retiring from his position as a school principal he took up a second career making magic apparatus for magicians and so much of what is said in that article is what he would have agreed with. At one time he had one of our cats completely bamboozled by the cups and balls routine - which has been around since at least early Egyptian times. Thanks for finding it!
Panic attacks reared their head last week and the one thing that has really helped has been “Binoculars. Walk.” So your intro to this made me laugh. I’ve seen some great birds including honking Canada Geese, and a fabulously noisy starling singing from the guttering of a terrace. He was definitely letting loose a swear word or three…
Ah starlings. I haven't seen one for years in our east Devon garden. I regularly see Canada Geese doing that pre-flight honking and gathering and then taking off all in a flurry though - I never tire of it.
Given how many birds starlings mimic, I wonder if those who track birds can listen then say "Ah, these birds have been in the vicinity."? "Mimicry of Common Buzzard, Green Sandpiper, Common Snipe, Greenfinch, Coot, Lapwing, Dunnock, Common Blackbird, Common Chaffinch." -Taken from the sound clip
Lovely post, thanks. I haven't heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker yet this year and by this time most years I have done. Jays for me are generally a very elusive bird, but I had a wonderful encounter last year with five Jays in one clearing along my favourite riverside walk. I love Starlings too, and a couple of winters ago, they murmurated across the road from our flat every winter night. The sad thing about that was that their original roost of a small woodland had been entirely chopped down to make way for a cyclepath.
Oh that’s a shame. I like bicycles, but I think I like starlings more.
I agree, I really don't think greenspaces should be destroyed for the sake of green infrastructure!
Love starlings - they were everywhere when I was a child but now it’s a treat to see them
I am new to the Lev community and I very much liked the writing here, particularly about the geese.
This said I am really offended by the use of the C-word in the description of the starlings' imagined dialogue. Why use very offensive terminology like that? Everything could have been conveyed using other vocabularly.
vocabulary
I don’t really like the c word but Lev has the right to use whatever vocabulary he likes: it’s his newsletter. Also, you’d better not look up what kestrels used to be called. OK, I’ll tell you. Windfuckers. And a heron was a shitecrow.
It wasn't Lev, it was the starlings. That really is how they talk, I'm afraid.
And let’s not get started on crows.
Cathy, Peter. Firstly, thanks for reading and for taking the trouble to comment – it’s always appreciated.
I don’t want to get all highfalutin about it, but here’s what I think.
Writers try to find the right words. It’s difficult, and I get it wrong all the time. On this occasion, though, I’m happy with my choice. It is, as Melissa says, what the starling said in my imagined scenario. And it is the right word. Alternatives – fool, idiot and so forth – would have failed to capture the earthy forthrightness that prevails in the heart of the murmuration – the starlings’ equivalent to the locker room, if you like. I suppose I might have gone for a comical olde-style exchange on the lines of ‘Zounds, Sir, this time you go too far! I demand satisfaction! ‘Fie, Sir, you are a lack-brain and a dunderhead.’ etc etc. Or perhaps a bit of humorous repetition: ‘You what, mate?’ ‘You heard.’ ‘Yeah?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Yeah?’ ‘You heard.’ And so forth.
But I didn’t. I presented the exchange as it appeared to me at the time, and I stand by it.
This also raises the intriguing question of offence. Our lovely feathered friends get up to all sorts of things that would make a bishop blush: gang rape (mallards), ménages à trois (dunnocks), murder and mayhem (just about all of them). I find that fascinating, not offensive.
One final point, then I’ll shut up.
Given that I like this place to be a refuge from the harsh realities of the world at large, the one bit of this post I considered omitting was the (admittedly oblique) reference to the world’s richest man making a Nazi salute – a notion far more offensive to my mind than any ‘rude’ word. But it set the context for the rest of the piece, so I kept it in. I hope that was the right thing to do.
Thanks for getting back in such detail! It is most definitely your column as someone said, but it is surely useful for you to hear and respond to reader feedback, as you do. - for which many thanks.
I am talking about a word of specific offence to women - maybe not all, but some - and that matters, and this is what distinguishes it from other words that you may have chosen. (I believe you would not dream of using words that offend people of different ethnicities, or ability.) So why would it not matter if a word is abusive to women?
I do not feel that the charge of offence relates at all to the bird world because they cannot be offended in the remotest by our varied perceptions of their behaviours. We are not talking about the same thing at all here. And I am not offended to know that "abusive" terminology was used for birds in the past (such as white-arse - wheatear) or those cited above. But I would be offended if abusive words were coined today for specific bird species, because that takes away from the magic and mystery of the bird.
I am with you on this Cathy but sadly it has come to be an all purpose word used by and for all genders. And we, I think, are in the minority here.
Nah the like button doesn’t cut it for this. LOVE.
❤️❤️❤️
I agree with Cathy. Why use profanities in a lovely homage to birds. The world can be a tough place and a lovely gentle article about our feathered friends doesn’t deserve to be debased by locker room language. Peter
Part of me wants to set you up with an account so you can put these posts up on Encounter. But part of me is scared you'd use the word 'cunt'. Although tbh it is perfect here 👌🏼
I missed having bird chat on Sunday. Although I have no regrets about spending my toddle round the block with the dog stream of consciousnessing words to describe the bird life we encountered as we toddled so I could write about it when I got home. Maybe I'll make bird-brain-beat-poetry my own Sunday thing from now on.
I have just come to the end of Why Do Birds Suddenly Disappear. I loved it. I was especially grateful to read about your love of swearing. I had been experiencing some shame about the dedication I requested you write, but now I know the filthy words you utter every time you see a Buzzard I feel better about it!
I also loved reading this post. (Not the bit about magic because I hate magicians but all the rest of it. Man, nature is my magic.) Those visualisations of bird song remind me of my student days listening to music on windows media player and putting the visualiser on randomisation mode. And they also remind me of what happens whenever I get my watercolours out to paint a thing but end up just playing drippy droppy splishy sploshy with them instead.
Yes sorry about missing Sunday. Things got on top of me. I am now, I think, on top of them, so with any luck normal service will be resumed this weekend. And I’m so glad you enjoyed Why Do Birds… filth and all.
No apology necessary. I don't know how you find the time to write all these things. I'm especially in awe now that I've had a go at writing about my own Six Things. It took me a whole week and I'm still recovering!
Andy Thomas’s digital sculptures are the most beautiful things I have seen for years.
Amazing, aren’t they?
I absolutely love your writing, including any words you choose or deem appropriate. I used to feed my garden birds but the food invariably attracts vermin. So I stopped. Aaaaaarrrrgh 👀😁
Thank you! Tricky one with the feeding, isn’t it? Would be helpful if birds weren’t so messy.
The late Senior Cat (aka my father) would have been fascinated by the "Magic" article. On retiring from his position as a school principal he took up a second career making magic apparatus for magicians and so much of what is said in that article is what he would have agreed with. At one time he had one of our cats completely bamboozled by the cups and balls routine - which has been around since at least early Egyptian times. Thanks for finding it!
Panic attacks reared their head last week and the one thing that has really helped has been “Binoculars. Walk.” So your intro to this made me laugh. I’ve seen some great birds including honking Canada Geese, and a fabulously noisy starling singing from the guttering of a terrace. He was definitely letting loose a swear word or three…
Ah starlings. I haven't seen one for years in our east Devon garden. I regularly see Canada Geese doing that pre-flight honking and gathering and then taking off all in a flurry though - I never tire of it.
Given how many birds starlings mimic, I wonder if those who track birds can listen then say "Ah, these birds have been in the vicinity."? "Mimicry of Common Buzzard, Green Sandpiper, Common Snipe, Greenfinch, Coot, Lapwing, Dunnock, Common Blackbird, Common Chaffinch." -Taken from the sound clip
Ahh glad you've heard a woodpecker at last! Things are definitely on the turn :)
I do love how you write about birds Lev. Another pleasure of a read, thank you
I so loved the bit about geese. I have exactly the same reactions to them. Glorious.