Oh no. Not this episode again! I enjoy a spot of Star Trek in the afternoons when I've nothing better to do ,but some episodes really don't have any lasting appeal. I remember seeing an interview with Jonathon Frakes ('Will Riker' in the Star Trek: Next Generation) in which he extolled the virtues of the genre, and in particular, he stressed the ability of the format to describe moral messages. He might be right, but unfortunately it's exactly those episodes that pall with familiarity.

You see - We humans like to be entertained. We want drama, excitement, suspense, horror, tragedy, and a few laughs along the way. Whilst moral messages are often very clever, meaningful even, they don't entertain. Do I really want to sit through this episode? No. The moral message was taken in the first time I saw it. I hate to admit it, but I really do want something better to do this afternoon.

Down By The Lakeside

I chose to spend a few hours lounging by the lower lake at Lawns Wood. What is this life if we have no time to stand and stare? So at a quiet and shadey spot I sat down to watch the world swim by. Whenever the sun broke out from behind the heavy cloud, patterns of reflected light played across the underside of the overhanging tree canopy. It makes a fascinating display.

The local birdlife had felt the relaxed mood of the afternoon too. Out on the water, a variety of waterfowl bobbed up and down, their heads resting on their backs. Why is it that so many seabirds are white? Is that some hangover from the Ice Ages? When the entire region was arctic in scope? It's also a strange thought that recent fossil evidence shows many of the birds floating out on the water are the same species that relaxed in the Cretaceous mid-afternoon, swimming alongside Hadrosaurs in the shallow wetlands of low lying regions.

A group of Coots congregated over some morsel. A pair of adventurous and quite fearless ducklings, about half their size, swam across under the watchful gaze of their mother, to grab their share. It was a dead fish, floating on it's side, and despite the attention it received, none of the birds that took an interest seemed to stay long or get any sustenance from it.

Everything changed when two schoolgirls wandered along the path after the school nearby had finished for the day. They were throwing breadcrumbs, and instantly the sleeping birds were alive, rushing for their chance to feed. The little ducklings made frantic efforts to be first in the queue. One duck follows the girls down the path, determined to obtain more than their fair share of bread.

A pair of breeding swans and their retinue of obedient grey cygnets swam slowly by. Swans gllide through the water at a gentle pace, one strong push from their flippers sending them five or six feet forward at a time. Both adults held their wings at the ready. Swams are not easily intimidated and on rare occaisions become violent, easily capable of injuring a human with those powerful wings. So when their family floated past my spot very close, I kept a wary watch on them as they kept an equally wary watch on me.

Not all birds like the company of human beings. Eventually the noise and activity from the shoolgirls was too much for a certain bird to bear. A large grey and white crane burst out of the lakeside foliage not seven or eight feet from where I sat. I hadn't even realised it was there. It flew back along the lake shortly after. What graceful and effortless flyers they are. I can see why the japanese always admired this bird.

I think I made the right choice this afternoon. Sat by the water in relaxed contemplation, all your cares and worries seem trivial. Oh hang on... Somethings coming...

There Goes The Neighbourhood

By late afternoon the youth element tends to congregate in such public spaces and the mood changes. A group pass by with their 'drug-dealer' dogs, short-faced thick-set animals that burst into my quiet corner of the natural world like brash gatecrashers at a well behaved party. Time to go home. Before those darn dogs gleefully dispose of their load of lakewater all over me.