Birdseeker : Atlantic Puffin

The Atlantic Puffin, the clown of the sea, this makes me think that they are out there floating about like little boat shapes for the 7 months they are at sea whispering jokes into the sea breeze. Ever wondered why sometimes you just feel amused for no real reason? No? Just me then, maybe it’s a puffin whisper. I know I’ve mentioned it before but I do particularly like a bird that seasonally changes its wardrobe, and the puffin really goes to town. While at sea their white feathers grey and their beak goes dull, then when spring is in the air feathers and beaks brighten and Puffins head to their nests to reunite with their long-term sweethearts for the season of family time. I love that they still always like to look their very best.

‘what splendour’ - The Bell by Hans Christian Andersen. Wordsworth Classics.

Delving into fairy tales again, words by Hans Christian Andersen, The Bell. A tale of a town searching for the source of the ‘wonderfully sweet sound’ and with it the quest to gain the title of ‘the world’s bell ringer’. At one point it is thought that a wise owl is the source of the sound by hitting its head repeatedly inside a hollow tree in the wood, which of course I like the idea of most. They question if the bell exists or if it is only in their imagination. What is worth searching for, and when would you give up?

‘Oh! what splendour lay before him! The ocean, the wide beautiful ocean, its long waves rolling towards the shore. The sun still stood like a great shining alter, out there where the sea and sky met. Everything melted away into glowing colours; the wood sang, the ocean sang and his heart sang with them.’

The sweet sound of bells.