All in the best possible taste

I’ve not been out birding but something has got my back up, so time to editorialise. I have been reading an excellent blog for some time by a chap called John Dempsey whom seems to be based somewhere around the coffin-dodging area of Southport.

A few days ago he wrote a post accompanied by a picture that rather took me aback: it was an image of several dead seabirds under the caption “Everybody say Cheese.”

Following the gales last week, it is not unexpected to see casualties washed-up on the beach; indeed one could argue that such extreme weather is nature’s way of culling the sick and weak. Far larger wrecks of seabirds are regrettably a regular occurrence as too are oil spills, so the relatively modest losses last week are mere bagatelle.

What surprised me was the lack of respect shown to the dead birds. After all, you would hardly take a picture of a drown person on a beach and write a similar caption underneath (an extreme example, I know, but I’m just trying to get a point across).

A few obtuse individuals who read my post rather misunderstood what I was trying to say (my fault quite probably) and inferred that I was of a rather sensitive disposition and could not take nature complete in tooth and claw – they could not be more wrong.

Anyway, enough whinging. Time to go and maintain my sixteen-hour vigil in the back garden to ensure no Sparrowhawks eat any birds from my back garden. There will be no death on this planet.

Until later.