5th May - Day 47 - Without feather ado

What a difference twelve hours can make. Yesterday evening, I arrived home cold and a bit fed up, having cycled through rain and hail storms for most of the journey. This morning, the sun shone and it felt like a bright new day.

Again, I had the benefit of spotting things from the bike that I would never see in the car - Canada goslings. Of course, I couldn’t resist a few close up shots (I’ll unashamedly try and pull at people’s heart strings for the benefit of the Centre!). Because the population of Canada geese spread across the country after the war, they can be seen as pests. They were first introduced to the UK in the 17th Century in St James Park, London and now there are about 62,000 breeding pairs. To prove they are baby Canada geese (I wouldn’t have known!), I’ve included a second shot with one of their parents. I’m sure you would also like to know that the majority of pairs stay together for life.

There are lots of sayings that include geese but we can save those for another time. Instead, I’ll include the lines from Shakespeare’s King Lear, ‘Winter’s not gone yet, if the wild geese fly that way.’ Flocks of geese (Before you say it - I know these wouldn’t have been Canada geese in 1605) were seen as an omen for bad weather. In the play, it is a warning about the trouble that is to follow.

So - if the loyal pairs seen this morning can just try extra hard to stay on the ground or in the water with their young, then winter and hail will go and life will become trouble-free - or is that to do with pigs flying, rather than geese.