July - Alyth Voice

TWAYBLADES AND SAND MARTINS by Paul Ramsay
The swifts did come here, after all. They arrived here on the 26 th
of May, about a fortnight later than last year, as I reminded
myself by a chance reference to my piece for the June 2002
‘Voice’.
The pigs have moved from their winter quarters to a summer
haven in a scrubby den. The vegetation there includes red
berried elder and broom, for the most part, with a lot of wild
raspberry, but there is some birch and I saw a well-grown hazel
bush on the bank. At the west end of the den, by the old road
that goes over to Kilry and Glenisla, there is a profusion of
young ash saplings, the offspring of a nearby mature ash tree.
Larch predominates on the steep bank south of the little burn. In
their new place the pigs merge into the broom and elder and can
stay hidden there, if they want, until feeding time, when they
emerge into open ground. My hope for the pigs in their summer
quarters is that they will create conditions in which birch and
other trees find it easier to seed and thrive. It will be interesting
to see if this is what happens and over what time scale.
Twayblade, an orchid of damp and dark woodland, was pointed
out to me recently by a friend, as we walked about. I admired
the large pair of luscious leaves, set opposite each other, that
give this plant its name. Above the leaves grows the slender
spike with its green flowers. Fifteen years may elapse between
the time that a twayblade seed germinates and the mature plant
flowers. In this time the seed grows a rhizome, initially helped
by a mycorrhiza, and root network. Eventually, the rhizome
throws up the flowering spike and all is set for sexual
reproduction.
A plant like twayblade that needs fifteen years to go from seed to
flowering needs to live undisturbed. Heavy machinery,
hammering about over its head and compacting the soil in which
it lives, is unlikely to be good for it. This is the case for many of
our most interesting species and is one reason why it is important
to look after the fragments of relatively undisturbed woodland,
such as that in the Den of Alyth. And yet nature is dynamic:
trees in ancient forests blow down and clearings result into which
those opportunistic species of plant and animal move. Our
problem in these small islands is lack of scale and that is why so
much nature conservation seems to turn into a form of gardening.
Standing by the pond some evenings ago I watched sand martins
feeding on the insects flying above its waters. With their buff
backs and white underparts they are the smallest members of the
swallow family to breed in the British Isles. They breed in sand
pits and I have seen their burrows in the banks of the Isla.
Another evening of blustery wind I went, hoping to see them
again, but it was too late: the shift had changed and bats were
out, feeding where the sand martins had been before.
Alyth Christmas Lights
200 Club
Drawn at the 50 plus club
Winners for June
no 56 Aileen Muir £50
no 52 Margaret McKenzie £30
no 12 Barbara Halliburton £20
Thank you to everyone for support and donations
We have now sold 173 tickets so there are a few left.
Contact Liz Gordon at the Post Office or
Dennis Malloy on 632284
9
Quiz Corner
10 questions for ‘The Voice’, created by ‘The Poser’
Answers to June Quiz
Answers: 1) Paul McCartney 2) West Germany 3) D-Day
landings 4) Rugby Union 5) Beach Boys 6) Saudi Arabia
7) Pele 8) Chubby Checker 9) Michael Caine 10) West Ham
10 = Superb 7-9 = Not too many grey cells decaying
4 -6 = You’re obviously too young
With summer around the corner, or is it as I sit writing this on a
miserable cold Sunday afternoon, these questions all relate to
places you might just visit on holiday.
1) Of which country is Damascus the capital?
2) Suez lies at one end of the Suez Canal. What city
lies at the other end?
3) Which city is known as ‘The Windy City’?
4) In which city is Copacabana Beach situated?
5) In which city would you find the Spanish Steps?
6) Which American state is Albany the capital?
7) In which country does the River Danube rise?
8) On which river does Rome lie?
9) What is the nearest seaside resort to London?
10) Which famous building would you find at Agra?
The Magical Question of Viscum Album
Does the magic of the mistletoe die when cut?
Does it contain magic, or is the magic in the scythe that cuts it?
Is the magic in the hand that wields the scythe?
Is that in itself magic; the belief, or is it all just wishful thinking?
If it is, is wishful thinking magic?
Is that what magic is, or is it the result from the momentary kiss that
is sometimes freely offered beneath the mistletoe?
Could it be the potion that is sipped in the apple orchards beneath
the moon, that allows the kiss to bloom within the wishful thinker;
therefore allowing someone to feel the magic of love?
Is that wishful thinking?
….and upon that sip, the berry plucked from the drinker
by the mistle thrush, who carries it to the source of the wish,
and love swells up inside the heart of the dreamer.
Maybe wishful thinking is magic, maybe not, but truthfully it does
exist in love and love can stem from a kiss whether it is incited from
the mistletoe or not. So therefore, the kiss is the only true magic. At
least it was for me….and that was beneath mistletoe.
Thanks to Matthew Rose of Alyth for this months piece of prose