Notes from the country with Vicky Turrell

  Would you believe it. I have just seen a hummingbird,” shouted my friend excitedly. She had been walking near the canal and had seen this ‘brightly coloured bird' which can only have been a hummingbird.’ It was no such thing, of course, because you do not find them in this country. She had not seen a hummingbird, but what had she seen? I found the answer last week when I was in a bird hide. I applied on-line to get into this bird hide. There was an email address and you had to navigate your way to the form. It was difficult and a lot of clicks away until the application form appeared. It had to be filled in online then I had to sign. This was difficult but I was so excited to think that I might be able to go into a new hide and see the wildlife on the other side. And so, I plodded on with using the mouse which activated a thin line for me to sign my name in a squiggly way. I pressed ‘send’ and waited. Nothing happened. Then after about a week an envelope came in the post with...

  What was that noise coming from upstairs? Could it be the central heating clicking on now it is a little cooler? I went to investigate. It was the loudest from our bedroom with a skylight. Then I noticed huge raindrops drumming on the pane. More drops splatted on the glass then joined with others making big blobs which burst and raced down the window. How strange that I had not recognised the noise of rain. Well, not so strange really when you think about it, we have not had any rain to speak of since we moved here in the spring and now it is autumn and the weather has changed. Our parched, grateful lawn looks greener already and the newly planted silver birch trees must have let out a sigh of relief after trying to survive on our meagre watering-can offerings at night. We planted them as soon as we could, you need to get going with trees as early as possible in a new garden, but they have had a ‘bad’ year with hot weather and warming winds. Perhaps now, against the odds, they ...

  It cannot be happening already, can it? I have not had my summer holiday yet and I am not ready for this. But yes, some trees are losing their leaves and some are looking distinctly autumnal. I am used to horse chestnut leaves going pale and brown early, but not in August. It is true though, on my journeys down country lanes I can see yellowing leaves and some are beginning to drop. I think it must be the drought, but I have heard other signs of the turning of the season. Last night Mr T was closing the window when he heard hooting. ‘Too-woo.’ I heard it too when I went over to listen. It was haunting around the far woodland over the field to us. It is the male tawny owl calling to his mate. The female replied ‘Too-whit’. I used to hear them calling from our ash tree but only in the autumn or early spring to establish their territory. They are getting ready for next year’s nesting and breeding already. It is hard to think that our season might be changing and even har...

  “Cronk, ronk, ronk cronk” The nasal noise overhead last night was deafening. We rushed to the window to see what it could be. We soon saw the ‘culprits’. They were Canada geese forming a huge flock dividing the evening sky in their familiar V shape like cyclists in the sky. It has happened again tonight just as the sun was setting. The loud honking drawing me to the window then the gasp from us all as they split the sky once more. Their long loping wings pushing their determined straight beaks and long necks to find corn already ripe in our farmers’ fields.   So luckily every night we have a Peter Scott sky. I know we have these geese honking each night, but I expect you have noticed that there is hardly any bird song now. Lots of birds have finished breeding and have no need to be singing to attract a mate. Have you heard that our Harper Adams University in Shropshire is a pioneer in detecting our birds by their call? It is the Green Box Project and it is using bird...

  We have heard of ‘swan upping’ but it seems that swans have been ‘downing’ in the last few years. Every year the King’s swans are counted on the Thames and this year there is good news, the numbers are beginning to increase again. “Be careful,” shouted my companion, when I was leaning over trying to take a photograph of cygnets with the mother swan. Suddenly there was a powerful thrashing of wings in the water; the male was coming to defend his family. “They can break your arm you know.” This is not true, although I have heard the myth several times. Swans’ bones are too light to break our arms. It is best to keep away though as they will attack to take care of their young ones. This week we went into a café that was taking care of the old as well. We were standing in the queue when a person in front of us told us that an older person can have a piece of free cake with their meal. We asked and not only did we get a free piece of cake but also a box to take it home in. “...

  ‘You have committed a parking offence.’ The text filled us with dread. What parking offence? When? What can we do about it? The text went on to tell us that we needed to pay and that if we pressed the link, it would tell us how. You have all probably guessed that it was a scam, but at first, we believed it and were worried. We could easily have pressed the link to pay and perhaps given our details to a scammer. But on further scrutiny we saw that the text came from outside the UK and a trawl of the internet showed that we were not alone and that others have had similar texts too. The internet can be full of dangers. But we are now promised something that the internet can give which would surely be good. ‘A doctor in your pocket’, who would not want that? Especially as we get older or are ill. Imagine waking up in the morning and turning your mobile on to find your doctor. ‘How are you today?’ She could ask. She could look out with genuine concern, her stethoscope roun...