Is it worth it?

“It’s not worth bothering anymore.” This was a friend talking about curlews. She was one of those people who go out and count the bird population in defined areas.

“There aren’t any to count, anymore.”

The number of curlews has dropped drastically. They used to be a common sight on our farm when I was young. We learnt their bubbly ‘song’ as they flew over our farm fields in early spring. My dad called it ‘the dirty weather bird’ because he said they brought rain. They like the rain. Much later in my life we heard it over the fields in Shropshire and used to think of it as a sign of spring.

Then its call became frighteningly rare until we did not hear it at all.

But last weekend I was in a bird hide and I heard the once familiar noise then looking up saw the brown bird with its long, curved beak. There is still hope.

I am not sure about my amaryllis though.  I bought two some weeks ago. One was from a garden centre and one was from a supermarket where they were selling like hot cakes. The flower depicted on the box looked so red and flush I expected it to burst out there and then at the check-out. I hurried home so that I could set it on the window before it flowered! But that did not happen, of course, and I soon began to wonder about my impulse buys.

After about ten days the one from the garden centre has grown tall already with several stems in bud, the blurb on the label tells me that it will have white flowers. But the red one without its box and fabulous picture is still just a miserable blob of dry brown, looking like a dead onion crouching in its compost with layers of papery skin. I should have looked more carefully before I bought.

Two people at our local garden centre were shopping together. They were holding a garden ornament.

“This will be a good present for Trevor.” She held the object out examining it carefully.

“Is it a mole or is it a hedgehog?”

They could not decide but bought it all the same and were still puzzling as they left the shop.

You would think it would be easier buying in a shop, but on-line shopping is very popular here. There seem to be delivery vans arriving all day and some people have even installed boxes at their doors, so they do not miss a parcel.

I have looked at my shrivelled amaryllis again this morning and there is a little green shoot. I am glad I bothered with it.