Talking Point with Vicky Turrell: 'It felt like being at high school again'
They did not choose me. It felt like being at high school again when the two captains were choosing players for their teams in games lessons. “I choose Pauline.” “Christine.” “Kathleen.” And so, it went on until all the players were chosen and my name had not been called. I was one of the spares again in our games lesson. I had to practise with a few rejected others at the side on the grass; the unused land that no one wanted for the game.
They did not choose me this week either but this time it was the house martins, not a team captain. They did not choose our house, but they did choose next door. There they were chattering excitedly as two of them squeezed head to tail on their new little mud platform. I watch them from my car as I drive by.
I was not lucky that day, but I did feel very fortunate indeed to hear the cuckoo this week. The RSPB has them on their danger list now that they are becoming so rare. They need ‘urgent action’ but what can we do? All I did was sit and listen to the haunting voice echoing over the Mosses in North Shropshire. The voice rebounded around as the bird flew from tree to tree. I did not see it, instead I felt a joyful reminder of summer but there is a treacherous side to this bird.
I still remember the cuckoo in my garden in South Shropshire. She laid her egg in dunnock’s nest and all the other eggs were tipped out. This went on without my knowledge and the first I knew was the call of the nestling cuckoo as the poor unsuspecting adoptive parents tried to feed this young interloping bird which was already too big for their little nest.
In the silence after the cuckoo, I saw the white-faced darter. You can probably guess what it is by its name. It is a dragonfly and this one is very rare, so again I was lucky to see it. But it is not very spectacular, it is small and it has a pale face with yellow and black markings because it was female. What caught my eye was that it was dashing incredibly fast over the unmoving moss-soaked water surface.
I was lucky too at school in the end. You see I was brought up on a farm and I grew stronger and agile. Although I was never tall and could not be chosen to shoot the ball and score in netball, I was agile and one day my name was called for the team. I was not just the onlooker anymore.
