For me, the pair of Spotted Flycatchers I saw today in Dunsby village, encapsulate and symbolise the bitter struggle against adversity, against Nature itself, that the species has had to contend with this year ; doubtless, a traumatic migration journey north from central/southern Africa during which death from predation, climatic extremes and sheer exhaustion must have continually played their part; arrival in Britain to battle the elements in the wettest and most hostile weather for 100 years; feeding and nestbuilding in horrendous conditions; then all but one chick dying in the nest following more bad weather....All disasters, potential and real, as summed up by Prof. Ian Newton in his term "Multiple Jeopardy".....an unforgiving and hostile environment in which these small central/southern African migrants live out their short lives.
......And yet, here they were at Dunsby, cocking a snoot at the succession of gross misfortunes; still battling away, successfully producing a second nest with eggs within days. A truly stunning example of AWESOME resilience and dogged persistence by these small, endearing birds in their rigid determination to produce the next generation "whatever the weather; whatever the disaster!" I somehow think that labelling the birds' reactions to adversity as 'nothing but sheer instinct' belittles it all. Thinking along the lines of Michael McCarthy in his marvellous book "Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo ".... 'Can a bird have character? Is not the idea just anthropomorphic, sentimental nonsense? Many scientists might well tell you so. But science doesn't account for all of life, and people can sometimes apprehend the phenomena of the world, or other living creatures, in non-rational ways which can capture profound truths.'....At any event, I have perceived something in the behaviour of this bird which has moved me not just to an aesthetic, but also to a moral approbation........I, for one, salute you Muscicapa striata.
Freddy
PS. Anecdotal reports ( and sheer common sense) suggest that other species have shared the disasters this year, but I am writing a post here under the heading of "Spotted Flycatchers."
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