Matters of Life & Death

An afternoon stroll in the Loch End Woods brought together life and death. I was startled when out of the bracken flew out a Sparrow Hawk. I'd seen birds of prey around the woods before but not actually in them. I concluded that as it had come from the ground, it must have been feeding. I wandered over to find a pile of feathers and then fluttering away a few yards on was a Wood Pigeon. It was in a very sad way. Most of it left underbelly had been eaten, and flesh hung from it as flapped what was left of its wing. It a sorry sight and I decided that the only right thing to do was end its misery. On I went and returned 20 minutes later to find the Sparrow hawk had also returned to finish off its meal. It flew away again so I stood around waiting for its return hoping for a longer glimpse of this fascinating natural spectacle. As I lay low, totally still and silent the peace was shattered by my bionic man ring tone....the one I get when I recieeve a text (The theme tune to the Littlest Hobo plays when its a call). It was from our Colin in Australia to announce Myfanwy Grace was born at 0.1.27am local time, weighing 6llb 4 oz. Life and death captured in one short walk.