Thursday 5 May 2011

Day 332: Nature in the Urban Jungle

As spring gets ever more vibrant, I've started to notice lots of strange things. This morning when I was waiting for a lift at the side of the road, a blue tit caught my eye as it flew and landed in the road. Next to it on the road was a big spider, obviously injured. My guess was the blue tit saw the chance of a tasty snack, but before it could eat it a car came and the bird shot out of the way. It didn't return for the rest of the time I stood there. I watched the spider struggle, round in circles. Car tyres missed it by inches each time. No one notices a little spider in the urban jungle.

I find it bazaar when nature interacts with city life. Yesterday, I saw a hedgehog scamper across the empty road at midnight as I walked home from work. It's the second one I've seen wandering the street of Bath this spring. Where are they going? Have they just woken up from hibernation and looking for food? Come to think of it, I don't even know what hedgehogs eat. Isn't it crazy the thing we don't know about animals that live all around us?

This morning when I went into Saltford Primary School we were talking all about animals, which I thought was weird with all the interaction I've have had with them lately. We wrote poems based on Mandy Coe's poem, Invitation from a mole. Can you guess what animal I am writing about?

Invitation from a ...
Roll in the dirt
and    take   time
feeling
as you ripple along.
Bits get stuck but
no bother.
What was dry
becomes moist as you
                                   edge
                                        closer
to the sweet, crunchy, succulent
leaf.
It's worth the                    wait.

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