#WorldCurlewDay2025

 

I am not your enemy dear messenger,

but still your intent feels murderous.

 

And though your reckless,

adrenaline fuelled passes and dopplered cries

have sent these old instincts into full flight mode,

my head disappearing into my shoulders,

my sixty-year-old body separated from my bicycle

to lie expediently on this damp grassy bank,

I cannot help but admire your bravery

and the skill with which you missed

my skull by inches.

 

How were you to know,

my crescent beaked nemesis,

that I am, in fact,

a fully paid-up member of the RSPB

and have no designs on the eggs

you’ve hidden, but am, instead,

merely on my way back

from buying Morecambe Bay shrimps

for my mother-in-law, who,

as well as liking sea food,

agrees with me that

 

curlews are lovely …