Let’s back track a little. Why animals? Why does it make people laugh when I tell them, “I love animals and nature!”? I wonder! Obviously it’s not in the ‘Top 10 cool passions’. Until recently the thought of that bothered me. That is until I saw the Steve Backshall look rather terrified as a Hippopotamous swam dangerously close to the canoe he was using. I think he’s a pretty inspirational guy! Although I had origionally only seen him on the children’s series Deadly 60 (at last, I can admit it!) and he really made me laugh. Now, at 21 and I think with a pretty mature outlook on life – the fact that he managed to capture my attention and keep it for the whole 30 minutes meant a lot.. maybe it was the fact that he was in an enclosure full of wild wolves, maybe it was because he’s easy on the eye – but I think it’s because he was really relatable. In a completely non-stalkerish way, I looked him up online to find out more about him and found that he graduated from University with a degree in English and Drama. Now if that isn’t hope for me, I don’t know what is!
I decided to take my degree in English and Journalism because I love to read and write (gee, how simple do I sound..) but I’d truly love to work with animals, especially wild ones. Maybe doors will open for me, in the same way they did for my #2 inspirational role model. I’ll tell you about #1 another day – I bet you can guess though!
So, had an interesting journey on the train last night. I love the feeling of travelling home at 6pm and still being able to see out of the window. Nights are drawing out – wahoo! Anyway, I once again saw the bird that makes my heartbeat quicken. The buzzard! (Buteo buteo) Ok ok so it’s not very exotic.. and quite common.. alright, it’s very common that being it’s proper name and all! In my little Lincolnshire experience though, the buzzard is beautiful. Alright we’ve had a kestrel in the backgarden along with pretty little finches and teams of precise flying starlings over Cleethorpes beach but the buzzard – now he’s a hunter and a handsome one at that! I’ve seen him swoop down and glide effortlessly across a field in search of prey. (Albeit cute and fluffy prey, but I can look past that..) Yesterday, in the usual place, between Market Rasen and Barnetby where the patchwork of green and brown fields seem endless, I saw him. The buzzard, brandishing his beautiful white under-wing at me from my seat in the train flew past my window with speed and grace. Although it was only a glimpse of my powerful bird of prey – I was smiling for the rest of the journey home. Yep, I completely understand that my mind will be blown when I visit South Africa! But for now the British birds are doing me proud.
Oh! Another rather interesting wildlife encounter revealed itself to me last night. As per usual, I was on the train. It was during my journey home and we had just passed the pig farm.. which is nice. As I attempt to block out the reason for the pigs’ being on the field, I occupy my mind with nicer thoughts like: “How cute are those piglets!!” Ah, but it’s true. Squealy and smelly as they may be – piglets are little cuties! However, I digress for my tale is not that of the pigs. The train was slowing, as it has a tendancy to do when you’re wanting to get home, and the sun was setting over the fields of a long crop. Something caught my eye. A flash of dark fur! And whatever it was.. it was huge! Perhaps I overexaggerated in my tired state but the russet colour sparked my imagination. Fox? Deer? Beast of Bodmin!? The creature appeared to bound into the grassy crop and the train stopped. This could be amazing! I reached for my glasses and waited for the beast to re-appear. To my excitement, it did. To my dismay, it was a labrador..
