Poetry Submission Poll: results time

Time is up for my blog poll. The response has not exactly been much to blog home about, but it has been an interesting experiment all the same. It certainly set me thinking about my own publication priorities and aspirations.

The results are as follows:

• 3 voters prefer to submit to hardcopy outlets.
• 3 voters pressed the 50:50 button.
• 2 poets like to go for gold and grasp every opportunity that presents itself.
• 1 poet prefers to submit to online magazines.

Books can be among our most treasured possessions, so I do not intend to comment on them here. However, the poll made me think about the magazines that come through the door. Most of us would keep a copy of ones that include our work, but what do we do with others? Do we stash them away or pass them on to our fellow writers? Do we cut out work or features of interest? Do we recycle the remaining pages?

I keep a commonplace book of snippets, articles, new poetry forms and quotations that appeal to me. This means that I do not alway feel the need to keep everything that comes my way (though I am a squirrel by nature!). What policies do you adopt? Do let me know if this poll has set you thinking.

Blog poll ... last chance!

The sundial on St Mary's Church, Dymock

Tick, tock ...

At the time of writing there are only 40 minutes left in which to cast your vote in my 'for interest only' poll (right). Thank you to those of you who have already clicked an option.

A-Z: US National Museum of Poets

I read on the USA Poetry Foundation blog that there is talk of a National Museum of Poets. One of my favourite holiday activities (when I am not out on a headland with binoculars) is visiting places associated with poets. Wordsworth's home, Rydal Mount in the Lake District, and the Cornish china clay pits of Jack Clemo are two locations that come to mind. If you were asked to select an alphabet of favourite UK poets from any era for a similar enterprise (one poet per letter in our case, if you can manage to restrict yourself), who would you include in your list? It is quite a tough exercise: I know - I tried it. My thanks to Matt of Polyolbion for trying it, too. You will find Matt's facinating list in the comments section: do take a look.

Still time to vote!

Please cast your vote in my poll (right) if you have not done so already. The days are slipping by!

RSPB Birdwatch 30

The dome at Middleton
Middle photo: redpolls

We thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the RSPB Birdwatch 30 activities over the weekend. We carried out our survey at the Middleton, the National Botanic Garden of Wales, where there was a representative from the Cardiff office of the RSPB on hand to lead guided walks and answer questions. I have submitted our official online list to the RSPB, but plan to list what I might call my 'comprehensive list' below. This is just for interest, and includes not only the birds we saw during our official hour, but also other interesting birds we spotted over the weekend. The species in my 'comprehensive list' did not need to touch down to be counted. My camera does not do justice to the beauty of the birds, but it is better than nothing. It was a real thrill to see the redpoll, and it seems extraordinary to think that only a few years ago we would have been amazed to spot a red kite! I shall log my new finds on my Birdstack (click link and look down right column).

Birds on Gower

• 4 redwing on scrubby moorland

Birds at the National Botanic Garden (this comprises my 'official list', plus extras)

• 3 blackbirds in one go
• 4 other blackbirds
• 2 buzzards
• 1 other buzzard
• 4 carrion crow
• 2 chaffinches in one go
• 1 other chaffinch
• 2 coal tits
• 2 coots
• 1 cormorant
• 5 dunnock
• 1 other dunnock
• 6 geese in the air (could not identify clearly)
  
• 1 house sparrow
• 1 little grebe
• 1 magpie
• 11 mallard
• 2 pied wagtail
• 1 other pied wagtail
• 3 redpoll ... and later ...
  
• 8 redpoll
• 1 robin
• 4 other robins at different times
• 3 stonechats
• 1 swan in the air (could not identify clearly)
• 1 tree creeper
• 1 wood pigeon
• 1 wren

Birds in Carmarthenshire on way to and from the National Botanic Garden

• 1 red kite - in air
  
• 2 little egrets

We also spotted one rabbit at Middleton! Which birds did you find?

Sites of interest:

1. RSPB for the identification of species
2. Katie Fuller's list (RSPB)
3. Matt's list at Polyolbion
4. Posting from Carol at from the field book
5. The Guardian and RSPB 30 (video and all sorts)
   
6. BBC Wales Nature Blog
7. Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (Llanelli)
8. Ecobirder and the golden eagle survey, Minnesota (fabulous photography)
   

A round of poetry news

• Prince Charles reads the poetry of Robert Burns
• New poetry professor for Oxford University (The Guardian)
• Simon Armitage: Pieces of me - in 16 pictures (The Guardian)
• Scotland's young eco-poets: The Big Green Poetry Machine
• The Robert Frost International Poetry and Haiku Competitions
• ReadMe Publishing ask for your best poem on daily life.
• Silicon Valley seeks Laureate
  

Life in 16 pictures (see Simon Armitage above) has set me thinking ...

Postscript: please vote in my poll (right). Thank you!

Birds: final countdown to RSPB Birdwatch 30

Publicity - of all sorts - for this event is coming in from all sides. Professor P. Brain has added his comments, with a link to the RSPB. I found an amazing and amusing poem to get us in the spirit for our individual 'birdfests and quests' this weekend. Thank you, Seabrooke.

You can download a counting sheet for your RSPB garden survey.

• On another subject, please remember to vote in my anonymous just-for-interest poll (far right) about where you send your creative writing.
  

Right: King of the Castle (Tintagel, Cornwall)