4th February 2008
In the flat grey & foreshortening light, it’s hard to see the hinds, unless they move. Although I know they are there, if they’re still, & they usually are, then with the naked eye, even their white rear flashes can be mistaken for lichen on a rock. Their faded rust coloured broken coats are entirely the complexion of the winter bracken, broken down as it is by wind, & curling that way & this after a season’s rain.
The three hinds of this quarter, though, have been joined by another three. There’s no stand-off, none of the stags’ confrontational bellow. It’s more irritation on the part of the original trio; they move on ahead, grazing, browsing, moving further up the hill with flicks of the heads & eyes & ears as the others make small transgressions into the precise margins of sociability.
The same bounds apply to all the gregarious animals here. The cormorants on the rock beyond Eilean Dubh are absolutely evenly spaced. If one lands on the rock, having fished awhile, the whole colony must needs shuffle sideways to allow her in, but without breaking the pattern of spacing. The chaffinches bustle about fallen seeds, but keep within the same imperative limits.
There’s food enough for them all, & no need of overcrowding & jostling. I’m mindful of this, brought back to the Byre by thirst, as I make the first morning pot of tea for one.
In the flat grey & foreshortening light, it’s hard to see the hinds, unless they move. Although I know they are there, if they’re still, & they usually are, then with the naked eye, even their white rear flashes can be mistaken for lichen on a rock. Their faded rust coloured broken coats are entirely the complexion of the winter bracken, broken down as it is by wind, & curling that way & this after a season’s rain.
The three hinds of this quarter, though, have been joined by another three. There’s no stand-off, none of the stags’ confrontational bellow. It’s more irritation on the part of the original trio; they move on ahead, grazing, browsing, moving further up the hill with flicks of the heads & eyes & ears as the others make small transgressions into the precise margins of sociability.
The same bounds apply to all the gregarious animals here. The cormorants on the rock beyond Eilean Dubh are absolutely evenly spaced. If one lands on the rock, having fished awhile, the whole colony must needs shuffle sideways to allow her in, but without breaking the pattern of spacing. The chaffinches bustle about fallen seeds, but keep within the same imperative limits.
There’s food enough for them all, & no need of overcrowding & jostling. I’m mindful of this, brought back to the Byre by thirst, as I make the first morning pot of tea for one.
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