Nature Notes #9

It has been a bit of a week, what with one thing and another, most of the household have either been to the hospital or the vet. Through this fraughtness, I have been kept mentally afloat on several occasions by a piece of music, and it finally occurred to me that here is a Nature Notes blogpost begging to be written.

Mind you, I had to look up the previous instalment of Nature Notes, as I wasn't sure when it was, what number it was or even who it was (#8, a year ago, 'Manhattan Project' by Rush). So all this time I have been awaiting the muse, wondering which piece of music I could reasonably shoehorn into a wildlife blog without seeming too niche. Oh, ok, it's always been too niche.

You will be familiar with my multitudinous ID dilemmas, surrounding broad swathes of flora and fauna, so a tune which doesn't immediately appear to be certain what it is called would definitely fit the bill. And then there's a pun. Ooo, we love a good pun at NaHaL.

The track is "Sure-As-Not/Sure-As-Knot" by Afro Celt Sound System, from their first album, Sound Magic, released in 1996. Long suffering, and attentive, readers will remember them from Nature Notes #5. This track is an instrumental, a shade under 10 minutes long, so ideal for in the shower or if washing up the dishes (no, I haven't tried combining the two).

And I hereby dedicate it to all those moments when the name of a flower or an animal temporarily hijacks the conversation and sends it into a vortex of "Not!"

"What's this moth?"

"Knot Grass."

"Well, I can see it's not grass, what a silly thing to say!"

🤦‍♂️

"Is that a Golden Plover flying over?"

"No, it's not."

"What is it then?"

"Knot."

"Yes, you said that already, but what is it?!"

🙄

"Is this plant Knot-grass, do you think?"

"Oh, it's definitely not grass, more like from the dock family."

😊