Tuesday 20 October
When I was driving to work today, I came around a bend in the lane and startled a magpie feeding on the roadside. It lifted itself off the ground seemingly without flapping its wings once. It appeared to just angelically rise up, full wings spread, displaying this striking black and white plumage.
It’s another absolutely stunning bird that is so very much taken for granted by us. They’re part of the corvid family and considered one of the most intelligent birds. Pica pica is their beautiful Latin name.
Their relationship with humans has always been a traditionally negative one. In folklore across much of Europe, they are considered bringers of bad luck and sorrow. In Scotland, a magpie near a window of a house was considered to signal a forthcoming death there.
It’s shape reminded me of the amazing paper aeroplanes my dad would make me. My dad has always made things associated with flight.
Paper aeroplanes that were far more elaborate than the usual dart. Then there were the kites made from polythene and canes, that seemed huge, like flying blankets. Stunning looking, in all sorts of shapes and colours. That’s also where I learnt what ‘symmetrical’ meant.
But biggest of all were the radio-controlled model gliders made from balsa wood and tissue paper. Huge, semi-translucent structures built with precision and care by hands scarred and marked by decades of mixing and trowelling concrete on building sites. Quite remarkable that something that looked so delicate was also so robust. Most landings were calm but occasionally they would catch a rogue thermal and be taken away. Only to be found by a farmer who would make contact with the flyers to return the damaged craft. It was usually patchable, flying again within a couple of weeks.
The Bald Birder 