The Clerk in the Country

Tuesday 31st March 2020
Rare birds and large eggs

My interest in birds stems from a family membership of the RSPB when I was young. It wasn’t the hours spent in draughty hides trying to focus binoculars on reed beds or murky skies that inspired me so much as the gift catalogue. Every Christmas more bird-illustrated items were added to our home: tea towels, prints, coasters and – what I considered the height of sophistication – covers for the Radio and TV Times, in those far-off days the only source of television listings.

We also enjoyed the RSPB’s games, particularly a card game which rated birds according to rarity. Maximum points could be scored by the lucky holder of the Red Necked Phalarope, which proved to be a much smaller bird than expected when I spotted a real, if not live, example on a visit to the Yorkshire Museum. At that time the large collection of stuffed birds stood in rows of individual cases, filling the walls of one of the galleries. Although completely lacking environmental context, the display was excellent for comparing sizes and features of related species … and recognizing favourites from a card game. I was delighted to meet the Phalarope again more recently on a YPS Behind the Scenes visit to the Museum store, where it was tucked at the back of a shelf behind a raven. That occasion also reacquainted me with a grey squirrel in a wooden travelling case which had visited my primary school in company with other “lending” exhibits. Being small I was honoured to be chosen by my headmaster to demonstrate the strength of the ostrich egg by standing on it. Of such treats are childhood memories made.