I love my cycle commute to school. It provides a light workout as well as giving me time to de-tox from the rigours of taming teenagers. And I have more time to observe the world around me.
As I cycled through Lower Hadspen last week, I saw two large birds rising from the road in front of me. I immediately recognised one as a buzzard and was pleased to see the other was a red kite. These angular birds of prey are still relatively new to Somerset, having spread their territory down from Wales and the Midlands. I remember the first time I saw one in the county; it was circling over a schools’ athletics meeting at Yeovil and I hoped the presence of this carrion-eating raptor did not reflect poorly on the prognosis for the exhausted teenagers competing on the track.
This kite rose with ease from what I discovered was a dead hare. I was sad to see a hare as roadkill, but I supposed its presence, albeit dead, was more evidence to show that hares seem to be on the increase in our area. We saw hares nearer our home last summer. An adult hare deliberately ran at our labrador, before veering off to lead her away from what I assumed were her young in another part of the field. Needless to say, Ella took the bait but returned – exhausted – soon after without any prey.
Beyond the dead hare, I cycled slowly past cider orchards, alive with hundreds of chuffling fieldfares and looping redwings and later at home, as I walked with the dogs, I listened to robins singing and blackbirds calling in the gathering gloom. We traversed fields as flocks of starlings skimmed across the treetops on their way to reedbed roosts on the Levels.
The sun was setting, its heat dissipating across the horizon in the frosty air and I caught a glimpse of something else red russet in the distance. A large fox was trotting distractedly away from me across the field. He looked unconcerned but stopped to look at me as I did likewise. Lithe and healthy, he seemed to hinge at the hips as he gazed at me before moving along. Some song lines came to mind:
“I was lookin’ back to see if you were lookin’ back at me
To see me lookin’ back at you”.
The title – “Safe from Harm” – seemed apt as neither dog had the remotest clue of the fox nearby. He was in no danger and the air of calm deepened still as my gaze followed him and I noticed two roe deer, also looking back at me. They moved lightly across the field below us. I laughed ironically and asked them if they were all paid up members of my cycling and walking safari.
I put my two natural born killers on their leads and wandered up the lane for a cup of tea.
