Wildlife & Biodiversity
Now Westlin’ Winds If you attended a Burns Supper this year, bear in mind that Burns was a notable naturalist, instinctively well-versed in the wild Ayrshire landscape. At the tender age of 16 he wrote ‘Now Westlin Winds’. Although a little idealistic, this poem to a local lassie uses birds and habitats as a metaphor for a happy life. Let us be grateful that we have a beautiful countryside, with so much wildlife, that gives us so much pleasure also. Could modern love-struck poets express themselves so naturally?
The paitrick lo’es the fruitfu’ fells, The plover lo’es the mo untains; The woodcock haunts the lonely dells, The soaring hern the fountains: Thro lofty groves the cushat roves, The path o man to shu n it; The hazel bush o’erha ngs the thrush, The spreading thorn the linnet. But, Peggy dear, the ev’ning’s clear, Thick flies the skimm ing swallow; The sky is blue, the fie lds in view, All fading green and yellow: Come let us stray our gladsome way, And view the charms of Nature; The rustling corn, the fruited thorn, And ilka happy creatu re.
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