I hope readers will forgive me if I take a moment to note the passing of a family friend whose interest in poetry and peregrines gave pleasure to many. Ray Woodland passed away in his eighties earlier this week. A member of "PM Poets", he allowed us to reproduce one of his pieces last year, and it seems fitting to share this with you again.
The Peregrine
Swifter than swallows and straight as a dye
an elegant peregrine hunting will fly,
bright barred is his plumage, but Nature decreed
that it's hidden from laggards in bursts of sheer speed,-
he falls on his quarry as bullet from gun
and strikes ---- all is over as soon as begun,
then homeward in triumph, his prey in his claws
the bird of the whirlwinds flies on without pause
to his eyrie on cliffside or cathedral ledge
to devour his catch standing bold on the edge
in view of the watchers who envy his skill, ---
immune and indifferent, he does what he will.
Swifter than swallows and straight as a dye
an elegant peregrine hunting will fly,
bright barred is his plumage, but Nature decreed
that it's hidden from laggards in bursts of sheer speed,-
he falls on his quarry as bullet from gun
and strikes ---- all is over as soon as begun,
then homeward in triumph, his prey in his claws
the bird of the whirlwinds flies on without pause
to his eyrie on cliffside or cathedral ledge
to devour his catch standing bold on the edge
in view of the watchers who envy his skill, ---
immune and indifferent, he does what he will.
Ray Woodland (1924-2008)
I'm very sorry about your friend.
ReplyDeleteVery sad for all who knew him. The poem is superb!!
ReplyDeleteLovely to read the poem the first time - very sad now....
ReplyDeletepax Canada 9.36am
ReplyDeleteI am sorry for your loss.
If the site is ever revamped maybe that beautiful poem could be part of it.
I'm sorry to hear about that. What a beautiful poem! Thank you for posting it on this site. Jennie, HK.
ReplyDeletepax Canada 11.57pm
ReplyDeletefalcon on the pudding cam
great poem, i guess he loved peregrines as we all do, i hope he saw many in his long life.
ReplyDeletekind regards,
mark murfin
pax Canada 12.04am
ReplyDeletefalcon on the scrape
Falcon still on scrape!! Quite made my day..............
ReplyDeleteLunch at the pudding cam, I uploaded a screen capture to -
ReplyDeletehttp://members.cox.net/katkolling/tmp.JPG
p.s. Can anyone tell which peregrine this is?
ReplyDeleteHave only just caught up with "In Memoriam".
ReplyDeleteThe wonderful photograph and poem are a great tribute to your friend.
12.15am Pax Canada
ReplyDeletefalcon on the scrape
Pax Canada 9.20am
ReplyDeletefalcon on ledge below the scrape
Falcon on the scrape!! Lovely sight....
ReplyDeleteAfter so many other people have reported seeing an adult on the scrape, it's nice to see it through the webcams for myself. It's interesting to see how they've maintained the depression by occasional nest-scraping. The live webfeed is always worth checking at those times, despite the unreliability of this element of our equipment. (There's a 30 second lag allowing you to switch from still image to live feed and catch the activity again!)
ReplyDeletePeregrine on the nestbox.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to get worried about the Australian peregrine nesting situation, certainly little activity at frodocam and anglesea.
It was not a good year for NYC raptors either.
Pax Canada 12.10am
ReplyDeletefalcon on the pudding cam
Peregrine on the nest box.
ReplyDeleteLive feed seems down, at least I'm just getting a black screen and no sound.
ReplyDeletePax Canada 12.10am
ReplyDeletefalcon on the scrape
Peregrine on the pudding cam.
ReplyDeleteAlcoa Anglesea peregrines have laid three eggs. I thought I was checking every day and seeing no webcam, but suddenly it and the eggs all appeared. I'm not sure if they were late getting the webcam up, or if my brain fogged up. Anyway, good news.
Peregrine on the nestbox, preening, checking out the area, esp. upwards. Live feed working and very enjoyable to watch, except no sound.
ReplyDelete9.41am Pax Canada
ReplyDeletefalcon on the scrape
Pax Canada 12.31am
ReplyDeletefuzzy pic. of falcon on pudding cam.
Would there be any possibilities of getting anymore new photos, its all gone a bit quite?
ReplyDeletePax Canada 9.00am
ReplyDeletewonderful close up shot on the pudding cam
Pax Canada
ReplyDeletethere was a wonderful shot of a falcon on the pudding cam at 5.00pm your time, it had prey with it and spent 20 mins enjoying it , it was wonderful to watch
Lovely falcon on Pudding Cam - what a nice start to the day!!!!
ReplyDeletePeregrine on the nestbox.
ReplyDeletepax Canada 11.38pm
ReplyDeleteBonus! 2falcons on the pudding cam
bird on pudding cam plucking supper. Very faint but can just pick it out in the dark. was this be some poor sole passing on migration?
ReplyDelete