Today is April 23rd. Today is not Errol's birthday, neither is it the day of his death. This is because Errol is a swamp dragon, a fictitious character in the book Guards! Guards! by Sir Terry Pratchett. Errol is a small, lazy swamp dragon who falls in love with the huge, female Noble Dragon which terrorises the citizens of Ankh Morpork in the afore-mentioned tome. Errol woos her by evolving his internal plumbing so that he can flame backwards, effectively becoming a jet engine (the parody is that Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of said engine, was rejected by the RAF due to his diminutive stature).
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| Errol by Paul Kidby |
Coincidentally, the other day, Megan and I visited the Tay Reedbeds, an RSPB reserve on the banks of the Tay estuary. We parked by a church in the village of Errol and followed a waymarked trail through farmland, down to the shore, full of hope at the prospect of possibly seeing Bearded Reedlings. Alas, despite much gazing, we did not. However, there were plenty of other things to enjoy. We saw or heard a few new species for the year: Marsh Harrier, Water Rail, Redpoll and Magpie.
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| A Honey Bee making the most of a profusion of Dandelions |
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| A poplar route |
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| Reedbeds stretching off into the distance towards the Tay Bridge |
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| Errol! |
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| A Dark-edged Bee-fly |
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| Reedbed panorama |
Back to the present and as an amateur odonatologist, it should come as no surprise to you that, today of all days, I am resolutely on the side of the dragons.
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| The Noble Dragon and the City Watch by Paul Kidby |
Your header pictures sometimes catch me off guard, nice touch 😂 I did know the story of Frank Whittle, they should have listened to him the first time.
ReplyDeleteFictional wildlife is still wildlife! 😊
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