As I become older, I wont say more mature as there are some people who know that’s an oxymoron, I realise that I was quite different as a child. While most of the children that I was at school with were into sport, mainly football, that’s the one with the round ball, the one with the oval ball is called rugby (I thought I should explain that for my American reader), I had little or no interest in sport. Although I did enjoy going to the sports field as it brought me in contact with wildlife.
I can’t remember why it happened, I seem to recall that a teacher was off sick, but when I was seven I was placed in a class with older children. They were taken to the sports field by bus and I had to go along as well but only to stand on the touchline. I couldn’t see what was going on, as it was a thick fog, so I became fascinated with the plants that were in the ditch beside to playing field. While I sat on the grass I spotted a rabbit. If I am correct, it would have been the first time I had seen a wild rabbit. While my heart has always been in the country, I am from urban stock.
I was quite excited and from being quite and shy, I was excitedly telling everyone of this back on the bus. Big mistake, I was relentlessly bullied from that day on. However, because that made me isolated, I took much more notice of the small things around my school playground. For example in a green next to my school was a row of trees with red leaves. This fascinated me as it was so unusual and none of my teachers seemed to know why or what they were. I now realise they didn’t care, nor did they care about the curiosity of a child they saw as a misfit.
I now know that they were Acers and Copper Beach. I really wanted to get on the other side of that high fence to see those trees. It was not until I was older and started my first paper round that I could do that as I was delivering newspapers to the apartments where those trees were. Further I got to know the caretaker (janitor) who was a real old country chap. He showed me my first Blackbirds nest, and when he had a Robin nesting in a watering can. But one thing he did show me was the nest of a long tailed tit. It was totally made from lichen and so well camouflaged that I would never have seen it had I not been shown it.
I have been fascinated by Lichen ever since.
I can’t remember why it happened, I seem to recall that a teacher was off sick, but when I was seven I was placed in a class with older children. They were taken to the sports field by bus and I had to go along as well but only to stand on the touchline. I couldn’t see what was going on, as it was a thick fog, so I became fascinated with the plants that were in the ditch beside to playing field. While I sat on the grass I spotted a rabbit. If I am correct, it would have been the first time I had seen a wild rabbit. While my heart has always been in the country, I am from urban stock.
I was quite excited and from being quite and shy, I was excitedly telling everyone of this back on the bus. Big mistake, I was relentlessly bullied from that day on. However, because that made me isolated, I took much more notice of the small things around my school playground. For example in a green next to my school was a row of trees with red leaves. This fascinated me as it was so unusual and none of my teachers seemed to know why or what they were. I now realise they didn’t care, nor did they care about the curiosity of a child they saw as a misfit.
I now know that they were Acers and Copper Beach. I really wanted to get on the other side of that high fence to see those trees. It was not until I was older and started my first paper round that I could do that as I was delivering newspapers to the apartments where those trees were. Further I got to know the caretaker (janitor) who was a real old country chap. He showed me my first Blackbirds nest, and when he had a Robin nesting in a watering can. But one thing he did show me was the nest of a long tailed tit. It was totally made from lichen and so well camouflaged that I would never have seen it had I not been shown it.
I have been fascinated by Lichen ever since.
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