THE DAY OF THE RUDE AWAKENING

BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...................  
 ........ was the blaring sound to which I was shocked into a state of semi awareness and awakened by the other morning. The sort of sound that penetrates the deepest of dreams instantly dispersing them from the darkness of the slumbered mind and immediately returning the soul back to the reality of life.

BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...................

The Fire Alarm shrieked into life at 5am and knowing that we had both guests and family in the house Alison and I jumped into action (the best you can with your eyes still shut) and headed to the landing where we met two of our friends, who are staying with us, I called out to my son in the room next door and he answered with a grunt and then we went searching the house for the cause of the alarm. There are five fire alarms in our maze of rooms and three of them were alarming but there was no sign of a fire. Having double checked I then started to try to disable the alarms as they were not going to stop of their own accord. Again, for peace of mind I re-checked the house, we had no item that could create carbon monoxide and the fridges all seemed fine so all we could do was head back to bed, to try to continue with the remaining nights sleep feeling cheated in the knowledge that we will never re-gain the sleep lost. As I passed my sons door, who had not appeared yet, I shouted out reassurance that all was OK and that we were not about to become toast and I was simply answered with a grunt of confirmation. He later explained that this nonchalance arose from his first year in Halls at University where the 'accidental' fire alarms out numbered the actual fire drills, I hope that this blasé approach disappears soon.

On a school geographical field work trip many years ago I was walking well ahead of the main group along a country lane when I saw just yards away from me a Little Owl, for those that are unaware that is actually the name of a small grey owl. It looked at me and I went for my little Instamatic Kodak camera, which my Mum had got by collecting tokens on weetabix boxes, but I realised that I had left it back in the dormitories. My class mates were slowly plodding nearer and nearer and I knew that our special moment in time would soon be gone. I stood frozen to the spot and the Owl motionless other than the swivelling of its head between me and the approaching hoard of gabbling youths. Then with a twist and a turn it was gone in a flash of grey, neither of us to meet ever again. I was gutted that I did not have my camera and as a result I tend to take a camera with me wherever I go not only to capture the wildlife encounters but also the landscapes that I feel that special, almost spiritual, but always uniquely special 'moment in time'.

One of my favourite birds is the Barn Owl and a few years ago I was lucky enough to have been given a present from my wife of a photo shoot in the British Wildlife centre in Surrey where I managed to do some close up photography of one.


The Holy grail though is to capture a Barn Owl out in the wild, I have not got the most powerful of camera lenses so I do rely very much on the element of surprise to be lucky enough to capture any wild creature.

The village has got Barn Owls all around it and this week I have had 5 days that I have seen a Barn Owl two of which were only feet above and in front of the car but this was whilst I was driving so no chance of a photo.

My friends were up here visiting us this weekend and so we went out to the brilliant coast where thousands of birds rest on their migration routes before flying on to their final destinations. On our way there my friend spotted this Barn Owl standing on a fence post just like the Little Owl all those years ago. They pulled the car over and I managed to take this photo. It is not an award winning shot but it represents that 'moment' in time that to me makes life so rewarding. The next day we were up at the Cley marshes and I managed to see another bird that I had never seen before but always dreamed of doing so, the Avocet, which is probably best known as the symbol for the RSPB and we managed to get close enough for a few photographs of this to





It was a little far away and so I had to use the computer to enlarge it....

 

So tomorrow I shall get back to the job in hand but for now I can add a few more of those 'moments' to my collections of memories because when all is said and done that will be all that I have and frankly I will be relying on the photographs in print and perhaps a handful still etched in my mind.

Time it was, and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence, a time of confidences
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you.

Bookends,  Simon & Garfunkel 

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