Wildlife Watching

Grey Granite has been concerned lately by the disrespectful treatment of wild animals in unnatural situations for human entertainment; pandas in Edinburgh and camels in Ellon.  She came upon this gentle and evocative poem by the Irish poet, Bernard O'Donoghue and thought that it captured perfectly the  fascinating privilege of watching wild animals go about their daily lives in their natural habitats, undisturbed and oblivious to human presence.

Romesdal Burn entering Loch Snizort, haunt of  dippers, heron, cormorants and the elusive otter                  

Hover

For John O'Donoghue

After our sighting of the kingfisher,

humming straight up the river in its path

of turquoise, we would stop at the bridge

several times a day, hoping and praying.

We saw the dipper, now a bird as common

as the blackbird, corncrake or the crane;

often we'd see the heron keeping an eye

on its schedule, before lifting off

into the wind and swinging in a big arc

towards Cullen with the wind to its back.

But shortly before we left, among the rocks

beneath the outlaw's cave, we caught a still

rarer glimpse: the otter, briefly incautious,

appearing in the sun, then gone. And now

it was him we went back to look for.

We didn't see him again. But we've marked

the rock he paused on, so we'll return

next year and find him, sure of the place

above the water where his holt is, dark

and sheltered from the bandogs of the day.