When to pick up, when to leave alone
“There are only so many acorns in a forest”
KELLY THOMAS, RSPB
IN MY CUPPED HAND IS ONE OF nature’s treasures. A feather I’ve often dreamed of finding. It is quite small – shorter than my little finger – but the most remarkable thing about it is the colour. There are 11 stripes of the purest blue, as brilliant as a cloudless alpine sky. In the gloomy wood, the feather appears to glow.
This wonderful object, one of the greater coverts that cover the base of the flight feathers on a jay’s wing, is perfectly fresh. The bird was obviously in the middle of its annual moult and had just plucked it out of its plumage. Somehow – what are the chances? – it drifted down to earth at precisely the right moment. Strictly speaking, though, the discovery is not mine. Our youngest daughter, blessed like all children with ‘ditch vision’, noticed the feather first.
Children are hard-wired to notice and play with natural things. Even soil. They can’t help
