September

A day late with the Angela Harding calendar, the September entry is entitled Lark Resting.

The annotation is quite lengthy and offers one explanation of the origin of the lark:
When I was a student I spent long hours at Leicester Museum drawing birds. One of the staff told me a Russian folk story. He said that God created the earth, and then Russia, and then men and women to work the land. But there was no joy. So God bent down, rolled a ball of earth and threw it into the air. As it rose it sang and sang, so sweetly bringing joy. So that is why skylarks sing as they fly up through the air and return with a ball of earth to nest.


I fear the Russian might be a little misguided in their theory. I am particularly interested in the fact that Angela Harding attended the museum in New Walk, as my father had strong connections with the museum and his collection of butterflies and beetles is lodged there.