Beautiful Birds(2): Wild Birds on our Farms

The Telegraph has a feature on the ecology of wild birds on farmland: Farmlife is for the Birds.

Poetic People (5): Seamus Heaney

The Guardian announced yesterday that Seamus Heaney has won the £40,000 David Cohen Prize for Literature. You can read about the two poems he chose to read as representative of his oevre.

Poetic People (4): Brian Turner

'My subject is ... the pity of War'
Wilfred Owen

I enjoy the challenge presented by unusual writing opportunities, and today I joined a stimulating workshop led by Brian Turner. Brian has served abroad with the US forces, and his poetry book, Here, Bullet (Bloodaxe 2007) was awarded the Beatrice Hawley Award.

I disregarded war poetry for many years, preferring environmental, topographical and historical themes, until I discovered the craft of Owen and the way in which Edward Thomas used his experiences of the natural world (e.g. his encounter with an owl) as a springboard for speaking about conflict. Today's fascinating workshop was my first encounter with a contemporary war poet. I have come away with a notebook full of poetry ideas on topics as diverse as the sea and the Antipodes. Thank you, Brian.

• Here, Bullet in The New York Times
• Brian Turner in The New Yorker
  
• Brian Turner in The Times
  
• Interview with Brian Turner
• Brian Turner's UK tour and Brian on Radio 4 (iPlayer)
  

Poetic People (3): Derek Walcott

Nobel poet from St Lucia, Derek Walcott, is now on the list of those being considered for the Poetry Professorship at Oxford University.

Creature Feature (3): Barry, the giant worm ...

... and you can read about his devastating antics here.

Beautiful Birds(1): Tree Creeper and Woodpecker

There were so many welcome signs of Spring this weekend after the long hard winter. The celandines were out in the banks, there were bumblebees on the crocuses, clumps of primrose in the hedge and green shoots that will eventually produce bluebells. It was lovely to watch the tree creeper going about its business at Aberglasney, home of John Dyer, 'Bard of the Fleece'. The Great Spotted Woodpecker was joining a band of chaffinches for a snack at Dryslwyn Castle.

Creature Feature (2): Enormous Eyes

Above: shells, skates' eggs and cuttlefish (composite picture courtesy of Photoshop!)
Below: Llansteffan Castle, through the mist

I was on the beach at Llansteffan last Saturday, doing a spot of 'beach-combing'. I did not collect any of the items I came across, but it was good to look along the tidelines and to see what I could see. I was amazed at the colours - blue, black, pink, white, silver, orange and grey - of the shells. I also found a few clusters of skates' eggs and a couple of pieces of cuttlefish in among the pieces of seaweed, fishing net and driftwood. Cuttlefish are cephalopods, and as such, close relatives of the squid. A giant squid was found recently: its record-breaking eyes were almost as long as a 30cm ruler! My favourite cephalopod poem is The Paper Nautilus by Marianne Moore. You can read a commentary (or several) here. I love the imagery of the Pentelic marble sculptures of the white horses on the Parthenon.