The Fallen~Sparrow~Hawk; Birdsong and Engine Sound

Birdsong and Engine Sound March 26 2002

Last night was a false alarm. Maddy did not give birth and I awoke to the absence of the midwives’ vehicles. At first, I thought the deed done and announced such around the Doon. Alison, however, wanted to visit before she left for the south and, once up there, found out.  The midwives came again this afternoon and are still at Maddy and Tristan’s.

I, however, have taken the time to go and sit by the loch without Horse, the dog, who tirelessly begs for sticks to be thrown, and is sadly a distraction. Instead I sit on a promontory made by a single large rock with a sparkling view of Mochrum loch.

There is a cacophony of recognisable and unrecognisable sounds, mostly the calling of geese, mallards and gulls flown in from the nearby coast. (At present there is a knocking, as on wood, which I believe to be deer butting against trees.) These are birds that prefer moorland and mountain freshwater lochs and streams. Apparently these are barnacle geese from Spitsbergen, via Iceland some 1,500 to 1,800 mile north, 3000 of them. Pink-faced geese from Iceland and Greenland. Greylag and Greenland whitefronts and some Baikal geese from eastern Russia and western bean geese. There are whooper swans, golden plover, oyster catcher, curlew, denting pigtail, scup, knot, widgeon, redshank, teal, ringed plover, bee-tailed godwit, plus hen harriers, marlins, peregrine falcons and kestrels.

The loch’s habitat for goosanders, mergansers, golden eye, tufted ducks, pintail, sparrow-hawks, buzzards, barn owls, swifts, swallows, sedge warblers, willow tits, pied fly catchers and grasshopper warblers.

The birdsong is drowned out by the occasional roar of fighter jets from a nearby RAF training ground. They shriek over a clear skyline and drop mock bombs on to a private beach between Auchenmalg and Portwilliam. The pilots are obviously aware of people watching from below because they get a bit flash executing all kinds of manoeuvres.

Cormorants stand sentry on the rocks out in the centre of the loch. They seem to be competing with the noise of the gulls.