I'm
driving on a back lane when around a bend in the distance I can see
this chap over the hedge heading my way. My first thought was that he
was a little high for a cyclist so I reasoned that he must be on horseback.
Nothing unusual in that except that his movement is not consistent with
a horse rider. As we close on each other the bend between us disappears
and I get a good look at him as we pass. Was a time I would have just
kept on going but ever mindful of the fact that I need 'fuel' for the
web site I turn the car around at the first opportunity and go back,
eventually pass him (he was going surprisingly fast), put some distance
between us, park and then wait for him to approach. I take a shot.
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I
resumed my journey and went back to soaking up the rustic splendour
that is Northamptonshire in the month of May. Scenes more in keeping
with what one expects to find in the English countryside. Rolling green
hills, hedgerows in blossom giving off fine fragrances and giving added
peace to the scene our farm animals grazing and lazing in the fields.
A herd of cattle, a flock of sheep with this years lambs, already almost
as big as their mothers, horses in a paddock, ALPACAS! I suppose they
could be llamas but I'm guessing these are being bred for their fur
not for their spit.
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Sometimes
the 'typical' English countryside can turn into Alice in Wonderland
before your very eyes. I'm thinking what else does Northamptonshire
have to offer by way of bizarre photo opportunities. A bird as big as
a Buick perhaps?.....
.........Yeah right.
I move over to
the left, the bird follows me. I move over to the right and again the
bird tracks my movements. The wings are fanned and the head pivots from
the base of neck in a large circle. I am uncertain as to whether the
display is to warn me off or because the ostrich fancies me.
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Whatever it is the display gets ever more frantic and noting the look
on the birds face I decide to leave before the display reaches a climax
(no pun intended). I have no wish to be attacked or, perish the thought,
worse. If I am surprised to see an ostrich in Northamptonshire imagine
the local fox when he sees the worlds' biggest egg. The sheer joy of
it. Just before a foot, the size of a catchers' mitt, powered by the
worlds' biggest drumstick hits him in the side of the head. Strange
place the English countryside. |
