Sounds I love....

Talking to one or two people in the queue at Chippenham about how much we all loved the clucking sound that chickens make when they are happy prompted me to think of other sounds that give me huge pleasure:

blackbirds 'chinking' nearby
buzzards mewing overhead
rooks gathering at dusk
wrens pitpitpit-ing in the undergrowth
a baby's laughter
wind in the trees making the leaves rustle and whisper
cows moo-ing
Nellie's 'moomin' noise when we are having a silly game with fluffy, strawberry or tuggy
the peal of church bells drifting across the fields
Archie's 'happy giggle' type noise (sorry can't think of any other way to describe it)
lambs bleating and their mothers' low baa calling them
Iain's chuckle as he watches something funny on TV and I can hear him from somewhere else in the house!
a cat purring
a robin's 'territorial' Spring song
gulls calling as they follow a tractor across brown fields
cockerels crowing....

Especially Bert's 'Barry White' voice - all deep and resonant. He would do his 'thing' at different times of day and we would sometimes be returning from a walk along the paths leading to home and hear him. I'd always say 'That's Bert' to anyone who might be listening. Usually just the dogs :-)

I had to let him go today. He too had almost reached 5 years old, re-homed from a neighbour almost 4 years ago. The neighbour had got him from someone who 'bred chickens'. He had come with a toe on each foot a lot shorter than the others and I suspected some indiscriminate in-breeding had taken place to produce him. This contributed to an awkward gait and it was starting to take its toll. He was still enjoying his food and the sunshine and his large dust cavities on the edge of the lawn but I wanted him checked by the vet before we hit winter weather because he wasn't right with his legs. We saw our chicken vet two weeks ago and I have been medicating him by beak ever since. But the metacam was not having as positive effect on him as I hoped it would and so when I took him back for a check up on progress today I made the decision not to let him get to the point where I would know I should have let him go earlier. Now was the time, not when it was cold, wet and horrid.

I have learned a lot more about chickens this year and especially that they are even more stoical than many other creatures, masking their pain to prevent the flock from sensing weakness. They are so clever at it that if any pain is evident then they really are in pain and need veterinary attention at the very least.

He has been such a good, gentlemanly boy with the girls. Such a handsome lad and a real character! His adventures include attacking Jason who did all our lime plastering and rendering a couple of summer ago. Shrieks from the garden made me drop what I was doing only to find Bert hanging off Jason's trouser leg while Jason flailed about cursing 'that bloody bird'.....Bert would give the evil eye to Geoff next door through the hedge and Iain took ages to learn to walk down the garden without a walking stick brandished in his hand....But he was meekness itself with me - eating from my hand and accepting any trimming of spur or inspection I wanted to do. He was also good with my mother and any other woman who had cause to go up and down the garden.



I miss his reassuring, beady-eyed presence in the garden already.