Sir, – The first kittiwakes are coming back to the sea-cliffs of Bray Head, Co Wicklow, checking out nesting sites.
Their near-neighbours, the fulmars, are flying around, cackling and grunting.
Summer is coming. – Yours, etc,
SEAN ROTHERY,
Sandyford,
Dublin 18.
Sir, – The spring equinox today, proclaiming a season of rebirth and fertility, will pass relatively uncelebrated as the country wages war on the coronavirus pandemic. Like the entire country, I am preoccupied in doing my bit to delay the spread of the virus by complying with the directives .
Still, the spring equinox gives me a timely psychological boost of longer days, better weather and outdoor exercise. The trees are beginning to bloom and summer time begins on March 29th. Warmth, growth and greenery are returning. Birds are singing and building nests while animals are mating and producing offspring. It’s wonderful to listen to lambs bleating in the fields and to marvel like Wordsworth at “a host of golden daffodils, beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze”.
The spring equinox whets my appetite for exercise, sport and outdoor life. Tennyson maintains that in spring a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love. My thoughts, however, are firmly focused on victory over Covid-19, on battling to retain my own and the country’s good health, on returning to a normal lifestyle and on indulging my passion for sport.
Stay safe and well. – Yours, etc,
BILLY RYLE,
Tralee,
Co Kerry.