Noisy Spring

There was a strange stillness. The birds for example - where had they gone? Many people spoke of them, puzzled and disturbed. The few birds seen anywhere were moribund; they trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh.

Silent Spring

Today's Google Doodle celebrates the birth date of Rachel Carson, the scientist who fought the chemical industry to have DDT and other deadly pesticides banned. Sadly she died before it actually came about and DDT has only been banned for agricultural use, it still continues to be used as a pesticide, despite the dangers and the fact that mosquitoes develop resistance to it. The book very beautifully captures the insanity of continuing to use known deadly environmental poisons on the land, an insanity even more appalling for the fact that it still goes on to this day in one form or another. You can read a bit about her in the Guardian, which also has the lovely Google doodle in question.

This is the shadow of a fern on a Woodpigeon's body. Thankfully our garden continues to rejoice to the sound of birds and insects.