IT was a typical Saturday evening in The Hide, We were watching Jailhouse Rock (we have both been avid Elvis Presley fans since the 1950s) and all was well with the world. Suddenly there was a very definite ‘bumpety-bump’ from the deck, The Hide in fact. We put Elvis on mute (sorry!), hit all the lights on the deck and peered through the trellis door. It was Mr Spotty!
Our large spotted genet used to be a regular visitor, as you well know, but we haven’t seen him in a long time, assuming, at best, that nature had finally taken its course. But no, there he was, very much as large as life and obviously pursuing something onto one of the plastic chairs which must have bumped across the boarding. We are simply delighted to know that he is well and surviving out there. Welcome back, Mr Spotty!
I’ll tell you what does not go ‘bump’ in the night, but which begins its daily routine well before the sunrise – the birds’ dawn chorus. I’ve been checking the punctuality of this event just lately and it currently starts at about a quarter to five in the morning, that would be around first light and a while before sunrise. It often starts with the bulbul, an overly-exuberant and cheerful fellow who always wants to share his joy with the rest of the world, followed shortly by Natal francolins (not a quiet bird) and of course the ubiquitous hadedas. Others soon join in until it eventually sounds like the pre-tuneup for a birdy Last Night of the Proms.
My interest in all this comes from an article that crossed my desk the other day, claiming that a study done in Germany had shown that urban birds get up earlier than rural birds. The scientists used 400 blackbirds in the city of Liepzig and its rural surrounds for their case study, which showed that the urban blackbirds were up and about as long as five hours before their country cousins. This is apparently because of all the prevailing artificial light in urban areas, compared to the natural darkness (until dawn, anyway) of the rural areas. One final and startling find was that cock birds living near busy roads begin singing hours before anyone else, simply to be heard before the onslaught of the morning rush hour traffic.*
I shall leave you with that thought, but I wonder if any of you living in the middle of, say, Margate or Sheppie would make a note of when the dawn chorus starts up and let me know, ditto the R61 or N2.
Finally, my wife saw a scrub hare ambling up our road the other day. We are delighted, although a little surprised. We eliminated a young kangaroo almost immediately and turned to Smithers**, who indeed confirmed the scrub hare. How good to know they are here and among us. Cheers!
*The Week, the Best of the British and Foreign Media, London.
**Smithers’ Mammals of Southern Africa, Editor: Peter Apps, Southern Books, Halfway House, 1996.
